


Omitted Memory

by KaiKayKoa



Category: Ni no Kuni, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Blood, Fluff, M/M, Other, Roland x Leander, Spoilers, blood tw, can someone please bring a knife, death mentions, got it, haha - Freeform, i went overboard, ni no kuni spoilers, oof, partially haha, rolander, warning, was supposed to be a oneshot fluff, whoo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-05-28 09:33:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 32,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15046055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiKayKoa/pseuds/KaiKayKoa
Summary: Woop woop angst train comin first chapter whooIt's been almost a year ever since I wrote ficsAnd this is the first time I've tried to write fight scenes so excuse my retardedness and crap :'DLike I said it started out as a oneshot fluff but eeehhIt has potentialI started this a month ago and re-wrote it into this chapter fanfic a week ago so I guess I'll be posting two or three chapters per weekThis isn't really that long but the more I put effort into this is just hh u u u hhsjAlso Dishrag is a water Higgledy





	1. Chapter 1

Their eyes were set on developing a plan to break through The Horned One’s defences to get to Doloran. As a sub-plan, they decided to train themselves for the final battle and end the chaos and darkness that surrounds the world. They decided to traverse a dark and dank cave, used to the fact that they spelunked dozens of others. They hadn't discovered the name of that certain cave which made them spark slightly with unpredictability. 

 

They went deeper and deeper as they encountered a fork in the passage. Bracken, Tani and Batu decided to go left as Roland, Leander and Lofty instinctively accompanied Evan as they trotted to the right passage. Both said their goodbyes as they went deeper. Echoes were heard from the walls as each team felt an empty hole in their party. 

 

Evan's group continued walking until the opening lead to a larger space. Lofty was greatly intrigued by the several writings on the walls and ceilings and stopped “for a tad second”. The rest of Evan's group encountered an open space which led to a dead end as decided to go back to the fork. As they began to turn around, a gleam of light was reflected on the opening as the ground rumbled furiously. Lofty gave them a grimaced face and ran back into the cave. 

 

The three shared concluded faces. A monster was emerging in front of them from a pitch-black shadow colored, and icky puddle on the floor. It's wings flung out first with the gooey liquid splattering everywhere. It's head came out along with the rest of its body like a jet flying out making the monster's appearance into a reverse phoenix. It looked like a flat silhouette in against the dark and gloomy walls when the black goo disappeared into an ominous aura around the room. It's eyes were the only thing distinguishable as a lilac flame flowed out of it. 

 

The team was full of energy and adrenaline and headed straight first into the bird. With each slash of a blade, and beam of magic, it phased through the ominous creature. They were shocked stiff to see nothing was working as the monster gave out a maniacal cackle. 

 

They decided to work on the defensive as each tried to formulate a plan. Evan was being covered by Roland and Leander as he was concentrating on a light spell. The black phoenix flew up and down giving Evan difficulty to aim until it lunged down on them causing Evan to topple over and release his spell. The beam of light headed straight for ceiling as it numerous stalactites began to fall and shoot straight down into the floor. The bird thought quickly and began spinning like a tornado with its tail ajar to hit the spiky rocks into multiple directions. Rocks were headed into the team's direction as they thought fast and broke each rock with their might. They all felt fatigued but not enough to stop them from fighting vigorously. 

 

The battle seemed to go on forever, with all their supplies drenched from their pockets, strength drained from their bodies, they felt tired, so much to the fact they finally collapsed in front of the foul creature in front of them. 

 

The phoenix stayed in the air, but stopped flapping its wings. It floated in front of them as it looked down and closed it eyes. A small flame emerged in front of it as it's wings began to gesture itself around the ember. The flame grew bigger and bigger until it turned into a whole ball of energy as bright as the suns above. Leander was the first to get up and noticed the light in the room. He didn't bother look back but instead stood in front of Evan. He brought up his wand and formed a force field I'm front of them as he turned around to see the giant orb of light across him.

 

“No--  **NO!** ” a cry echoed across the room.

 

Roland wasn't with them when they collapsed, he fell right behind the bird’s tail until energy and heat filled the cavern space. He stood up and noticed the unimaginable size the flame has gotten, he couldn't see the other side and didn't bother look for much longer. He charged his gun and pointed it to the floor and thought,  _ ‘Come on, please work’ _ he mumbled to himself as he turned around while crossing his fingers 

 

He leaped up as high as he could and released the trigger. Roland shot the floor with his own light beam which lead him up atop the beast’s head-- he held his sword up high and stabbed the beast dead center in its head. A shattering noise was heard-- the bleak bird screeched-- it's body had begun evaporating into dark fog revealing a shattered orb from its head as the flame slowly disappeared. The shards came raining down as Roland had begun falling into the ground. Fortunately, Dishrag had conjured an orb of water that reflected all physical objects. Roland fell right into it as he slowly rolled off of it unharmed. His darted around the cavern space to find Evan and Leander. Eyes landed on the poor cat-boy as he weeped dreadfully atop his injured friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop woop angst train comin first chapter whoo  
> It's been almost a year ever since I wrote fics  
> And this is the first time I've tried to write fight scenes so excuse my retardedness and crap :'D
> 
> Like I said it started out as a oneshot fluff but eeehh  
> It has potential  
> I started this a month ago and re-wrote it into this chapter fanfic a week ago so I guess I'll be posting two or three chapters per week  
> This isn't really that long but the more I put effort into this is just hh u u u hhsj
> 
> Also Dishrag is a water Higgledy


	2. Chapter 2

“N-no, you shouldn't have d-done that. I-I could've, I--” cries were heard from the boy being cut-off multiple times by his tears overflowing his face. _‘Dammit. Not again’_ Roland thought as he ran to his teammates.

 

Leander was knocked out cold, laying on his front.  Roland requested that Evan to move over taking account of another similar and dreadful event occurred in front of his eyes.

 

He turned Leander over to reveal the damage. Burn marks were present, scorching the front of the mage’s body as he turned him over. His eyes were closed shut, fortunately not seared. His glasses have been shattered completely, spread across his face and the ground leaving only a few scars. He was still warm, his heart rate fluctuating from a breakneck speed to a largo song. He was immobile, inanimate, he was knocked out though he looked quite dead. A familiar sight indeed.

 

The small king's weeping became stronger by the seconds that passed by, eventually becoming similar to a wailing banshee. He buried his face into his legs as he curled up against the wall hugging his legs. His muffled suffering was noticeable while you were in the cave space. Roland removed Leander's coat and set it aside as he hastily took some pre-made soreaway paste and a tumbler of warm  soreaway based tea. He spread the paste gently on the man's noticeable wounds and lifted his head to make him drink the tea. Once treating Leander, he scurried off to treat Evan, who was still burying his face with false guilt.

 

His words were being muffled by his sleeves, “It happened again, I couldn't save him. I'm still too weak, won't be able to save anyone at all…

“what good am I as king? I don't even deserve such a title..”

 

Those lines of words wrung through Roland's he as he requested Evan to lift up his arms. He lifted the sleeve to inspect any wounds and noticed the inevitable amounts of tears that drenched the cloth.

“It's alright, you shouldn't say such things, it'll only weigh you down even more.” the man stated trying to comfort the child.

He and the boy had seen the same scenario before only to witness it again with a more unbearable amount of guilt and regret.

“I-I was right behind him. H-he set up this force field. I thought it would last u-until the beam died, b-but I w-was w-w-wrong. So, so wrong.”, Evan said through a mouth full of sniffles.

Roland pat the boy's head while offered him the tumblr of tea.

He drank generously only to stop halfway catching his breath, “You-- you need it?” Evan asked while holding up the bottle.

“No, it's fine. You need it more” Roland assured him.

Once Roland was done treating Evan they begun hearing footsteps from the cave opening. Evan hastily nabbed the pair of glasses and clenched it gently. The lens came out cleanly so it didn't hurt him.

 

“Evan! Roland! Leander! Are you alright?!”

“We're so sorry we came late!”.

Cries of questions were heard as it echoed across the room. Soon the people started emerging from the opening, one after the other. Lofty hopped in first, followed by Tani, Bracken and Batu respectively.

“C-cor blimey. Are you alright?” Tani questioned the two as Evan wiped off his tears on a handkerchief Roland offered him. Tani's eyes were then glued onto Leander, who looked dead in once glance.

“Whoa, what in bloody heck happened here--”

“Shhh, language.” Bracken said as she cut Batu off.

 

Tani was about to grab onto Leander's shoulders to wake him until Roland cut in, “Don't do that. He might as well be aching all over so I wouldn't do that or I were you”.

Tani put her hands away and instead leaned over to hover her head on his chest. _‘He's still breathing. Somewhat.’_ she thought to herself.

Bracken asked Roland about the situation while Batu was busy comforting Evan as the man was occupied. Tani, Lofty and a few other higgledies was circled around Leander's body as he was lying down looking dead. Tani sat down as Lofty and the few other higgledies started to hop up and down examining him.

 

They had a short conversation.

“Looking dead as a dog playin' it”

“Tell me why again would weren't with then when they got clobbered?”

“Well I'll say it's all because of my curiosity--not my ignorance. ‘Hope youe'll understand that.”

“Hmph, well at least you got to call us”

 

Bracken took out her tablet and started tapping away trying to find out how to help Leander the most efficient way possible. “Wait, can we leave? I need a decent signal.” Bracken stated. Roland nodded as he began picking up Leander's inanimate body. Evan was picked by Batu as he materialized a wand from his arms band.

 

Tani stood up and the higgledies stopped for a while. He began doing the gestures of the spell. The light appeared below their feet. “Far, far away!”

Everyone concentrated until-- “poof”.

 

Evan's wand sparked a bit at the tips as if it malfunctioned. He gave it a few taps before lifted it up again. “Poof” it went again.

“Maybe ya' don't got the magic energy to do it Evan lad”

“N-no, I swear Roland lent me some six sensers just a little while ago.”.

He tried numerous times, again and again, his wand would only spark to conclude failure. He tried to use other wands, nothing. Roland looked at him giving him a smile.

 

“Let's just walk out of here and set up camp, there was an open space nearby outside the cave” Tani suggested.

 

The group agreed and started retracing the steps out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof here it is  
> also p short cuz cuz  
> it was fun messing with Lofty as comic relief also because i forget about him until I'm done with the draft  
> also yes throwback to Aranella dying great job me.


	3. Chapter 3

They left the cave space with Evan and Lofty in the lead. Roland looked straight ahead following the when Batu came to him. 

“Ye know, I can take o’ Leander for ye”. 

Roland shook his head while fixing his grip on the weak mage. 

“No, I can handle this. It'll just hurt him more I try and pass him to you” 

“Ain't that adorable” 

“...What?” 

“Nothin’".

 

They reached the forest where the sun was setting, just in time for dusk. the sky was a blood red mixed with the relaxing shades of orange and pastels. The nearby pond reflected that along with the mounds across it. The trees balanced out the light and dark and the area seemed pretty clear of monsters. It seemed perfect for a campsite.

 

Roland felt Leander as he squirmed. It was short and subtle but that only made Roland mildly intrigued as he stared at him trying to see what was wrong. The angle of where Roland saw Leander's face reminded him of something.  _ “. . a child” _ , he mumbled.

 

He stared at the man in his arms until Tani had begun snapping her fingers in front of his face. 

“Oi, we've got the tent ready for ‘im. Lay ‘im down in there when you're done inspecting you're ‘specimen’” she joked. 

_ “that fast?” _ Roland mumbled, he must've lost track of time while staring at him, he shook his head, flushed from the thought and walked over the tent Tani had pointed to. 

 

Evan opened the flap as Roland laid Leander gently on the mattress. Evan sat next to the him as Roland began to notice. 

“It's not your fault” Roland started he sat down across the boy. 

“I know. I overreacted, it just reminded so much of when--” 

“You don't have to continue, we both know”. 

Evan sniffled a bit more before wiping the tears of his face. They both continued chatting a bit more until it was Roland's turn to set up his own tent. He waved Evan goodbye as he left. He started setting up his own blankets and whatnots until Tani walked in a little later.

 

“Good evenin’ Evan!” 

“Hello Tani” 

“it's that late already?” Evan questioned. 

“Well the sun's already set but we've set up a few lanterns outside” Tani replied. 

 

The two children gave the man a concerned look. 

“Would you know what happened to his glasses?” Tani asked.  

“Oh his glasses! I almost forgot about that,” Evan said as he took his wand out. 

 

He knew that magic couldn't work but he had to try. He took out the glasses frame and focused on it. He closed it eyes as the frame stared glowing. It hovered over his hand for a few seconds as light engulfed it only to reappear as a new set of glasses.

 

The two kids gasped as they cupped their hand against each others mouths as they heard a groan on front of them. The body moved as if it were awake. It shook once or twice before trying to get up. 

 

“Leander? A-are you alright?” Evan yelped. 

Leander tried moving his arms to support him. It slipped and he decided to lay back down. The movement of his body made it looked like it ached, a lot. The two kids shared stares before one of them were able to speak.

 

Evan inhaled, and--

“Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot? Do you hate me?--”. 

 

A flurry of words emerged from his mouth as he tried to keep his figure. The boy looked again and wondered if he were awake. He thought once he was still knocked out until Leander had groaned again in pain. Tani passed him few pillows as be tried to lift Leander's back to slip the pillows behind his body. Leander was repositioned to a sitting posture. His eyelids twitched until he opened it slowly. He blinked once or twice before completely opening them to find two children staring at him. He couldn't move, it hurt too much. He tried to speak until he was cut off by Evan whom has fumbled trying to find the pair of glasses.  

 

“Uhm, here!” Evan said while offering the pair of glasses to the man. 

“I-” Leander blurted.

“Oh! Uhm, you can't move, I-I'll do it”. 

Evan moved closer to the man to place the glasses there for him. Leander blinked once again trying to focus. 

“I-- Thank you, this is better..” he replied to the boy. 

“I-- I'm sorry for doing that.” Evan apologized. 

“About what?” Leander asked. 

“I was being weak, again. I didn't do any good except put your life in danger. You must be aching horribly right now, and that's all my fault.” the cat-boy said, looking down on the floor with guilt and regret, with a few tears flowing down his face reaching the floor. 

 

“You did?” Leander questioned again. 

“Then.. who are you?” he continued with a confused face.

The two children gasped again and gave each other worried stares. 

“What? Come again?” Tani questioned.

“I-- I don't know who you people are.”

 

They kept quiet for a while. Evan placed a hand on his chin beginning to think. “So… you don't remember us?” Evan asked. 

Leander shook his head on reply. 

“Then.. do you remember anything else?”

The man looked down carefully so his neck wouldn't. ache. He closed his eyes and tried to think, recalling his memories but-- nothing.

 

He continues looking down and squinted at the two kids. “... I don’t think so.”

“Not a damned flippin thing? Not even when you were born!?” Tani yelled in anger and annoyment. 

Evan looked at her and worried that she might've exaggerated the terms a little too much. 

“No, nothing at all” Leander stated as he stared at them with an honest look. 

 

The two children proceeded to pile him with questions; ‘When you got hit, the people you've met, your family, this world, yourself’ and more. He shook his head after each question making the kids more and more worried. 

 

“So, nothing. Not one lil thing??”

“Nothing at all. I'm sorry”

 

Tani slumped over herself and buried her face in her hands as Evan looked at Leander with worried faces. 

 

“All right.” Tani sat back up placing his hands on her knees. “Let's start out fresh and simple shall we? You're Leander, I'm Tani, and this is Evan. We're all close friends and you tried to save Evan's life as almost got yourself killed for it. That's why we're here and you're looking like a clobbered mess

“There are other people outside are your friends including a few creatures who are too.” Tani concluded. 

 

Leander looked at her then looks down to think. He clarified everything as Tani nodded at each statement. She stood up and walked out giving Evan a signal that she'd inform everyone else. Evan stayed inside continuing to stare at Leander. Leander minded nothing at all and stared back at the child as if they were having a staring contest.

 

Tani had just come out the tent to see Roland's back facing her. 

“Don't tell anyone yet, I need to know for myself” he told her. 

She nodded quietly with a small “yeah” as she scurried off to help Batu with the other tents. Roland shuffled inside to see two people staring at each other. Their stare broke as Evan noticed him to say “Oh! I should tell you something”. 

Roland gave him the usual smile to say he already knew, he sat right next to Leander facing the same direction as him. 

“If you don't know, I'm Roland. I'm also with you on this so don't worry.” 

“I won't”. 

 

Roland was surprised to see Leander in such a calm state even after getting his memory wiped. 

“I want to know what's going on” Leander asked. 

“Well, there's people outside setting up camp to wait till the boats come and bring us somewhere safer” Roland replied. 

“We can't use magic at the moment so we have to use other methods” he added after noticing Evan's face. 

“Ah, I see” Leander said. 

“Thank you, you look mature for someone this young, Roland” Leander added. 

Roland glanced away and held a hand behind his neck lightly flush at the comment while weakly laughing

“Well, I wish I could tell you more”.

 

Claps were heard from the outside with a girl yelling “It's supper time! Get yer bowls out before it runs out!”. 

 

Evan's ears perked up and Roland gave a look. Evan nodded as he walked outside, seemed he was hungry. A small growl came from the small tent until there were two growls softly being heard. Roland chuckled as Leander began to chuckle with him. A bit of a laugh was heard from the two until Roland decided to get dinner. 

 

“I'll get you a bowl.” Roland assured Leander with a smile. 

He left the tent leaving the flap open enough for Leander to see what was going on. The campfire was placed in front of his tent as the scent of the delightfully cooked stew entered the small space.

 

_ ‘That must taste wonderful!’ _  he thought to himself. Roland came back with two bowls, one in each of his hands with two spoons clipped by two fingers. Leander looked at him with delight and a happy smile. Roland was startled by the sight of it, it wasn't everyday you see a look like this from a sophisticated wizened man. He knew him an acute noble, now with his memory wiped he seems like a friendly young man who has the potential to know more. Roland smiled and blushed subtly, the campfire's lighting made it less obvious. He sat down next to him and turned on the lamp nearby. It brightened things up as well as their moods.

 

“I'll put this here, it's still pretty hot.” Roland said as he placed one bowl on the floor next to him. 

He placed his own bowl near his face and started blowing gently on the spoonful of hot stew. He took it to his mouth as his face lit up “Wow, this is good.”. 

 

Roland looked over to Leander as he was staring at him with little stars in his eyes, well, that's how it looked like. “Alright, alright, I'll get you your bowl” Roland chuckled putting his bowl down swapping it for the other.

He mixed the stew in it for a bit until deciding to take a spoonful and blow gently to cool it.

 

Roland stopped blowing and looked down, he gave a little chuckle before bringing the spoon to Leander's mouth.

 

“Open up!” he said. 

Leander's mouth opened to let the spoon in as he gave out a small “nom”. Roland carefully slipped out the spoon from his friend's mouth as Leander had begun chewing. He swallowed followed by another smile. 

“This is really tasty!” Leander remarked in a childish demeanor. The way he had said it make Roland smile in return before preparing another spoonful.

 

Roland continued feeding Leander as he observed in the drastic change in personality. He felt much happier just being with him. It reminded him so much of.. someone. No. He stopped thinking about it and replaced it with static in his head. He looked up closing his eyes. 

 

Leander had noticed and begun to ask “Are you alright?”. 

“O-oh, I'm fine. I'm just-- half asleep.” Roland replied. 

“Ah, then.. I guess you're tired. You should get some sleep.” 

“If you say so. Oh, and by the way, Evan's sleeping with you. He'll take good care of you, don't worry.”

 

Roland left the tent with the bowls in hand with the spoons clipped between the fingers as he waved goodbye and opened the tent flap with the other. Evan sat near the campfire until he saw Roland come out of the tent. His ears perked up and his tail became tense. 

 

“What did you do? Is he still okay? Did he remember anything?” the boy hastily asked with worry spread around his own body. 

“Oh, I just fed him, with him not being able to move and all. He's still okay and no, he didn't.” Roland answered. 

Evan's ears drooped down subtly while he looked down at the last statement. 

 

He nodded in thanks and picked up a seemingly small, yet still bulky, bag next to him which Roland had presumed contained all of Evan's essentials. Evan trotted over to the tent and went inside. He took out his wand and tapped the lamp near the tent opening to light it. Soft light flooded the room with Evan noticing Leander fiddling with his fingers. Leander looked up as he smiled to greet Evan. 

“Are you alright now? Does it still hurt when you're moving like that?” Evan quickly questioned. 

“No and yes. I was feeling stiff and I had do something. It still aches but not as much when I apply this paste.”. 

He tapped on a container labeled “Soreaway Paste” on his lap. Evan sighed in relief and in worry.

 

He began to take things out of his bag. He reached in and carefully took out his sleeping bag. The opening was already big enough to get the sleeping bag out until he continued to take the rest of if out. 

“Hrmm, it must've unrolled inside.” Evan remarked. 

 

Leander was staring the whole time with his mouth barely gaping in slight shock to see something that big come out of a bag that might as well fit only a few things. Evan looked at Leander and his expression until something “clicked” in his head. 

“Uhm, this a bottomless bag! By the name you'd get what it means… that's why it could fit things bigger than it.” Evan answered after realizing.

Leander closed his mouth and nodded. 

“That’s interesting.” he said as smiled back. 

Evan thought for a while and told himself  _ ‘maybe that's why he was seemed so happy…’ _ .

 

Evan continued setting up the place where he'll sleep. He patted the sleeping bag and laid down. He glanced next to him realizing his friend needed help. He got up and scooted next to Leander. 

“Uhm” he mumbled trying to find a way to help him. He took his glasses off and set them aside. He then decided to slip the pillows out leaving one for him to sleep on. It was successful and proceeded to lay a blanket over his temporarily disabled companion. Evan tapped on the lamp again with his wand to burn the light out. 

 

“Good Night Leander!” 

“Good night, Evan”

Each exchanged good nights as they dozed away. Evan kept his body facing Leander at all times making sure not to turn away. Leander had already fallen asleep, while Evan realised that keeping guard kept him up. He tried his best to sleep hoping nothing will get to them. 

Nothing. 

 

He stopped trying and decided to look around before setting his eyes on Leander who was snoring softly, keeping a steady beat. He continued to stare hoping that he might sleep at some point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am rocking back and forth on this old and rickety office chair right now about to fall off for the twenty-seventh time  
> haha here's my self indulgence ha h a h a  
> I'm gonna make queenie cry oh my g o d I'm so s orry
> 
> * * *
> 
> minor edit, don't mind move along


	4. Chapter 4

_ “... Good evening.”.  _

 

Leander heard the greeting and woke up, he thought. He looked around him and tried to think about where he was. The area was a dark room with a spotlight above him, the airy feelings he felt was him hovering a few inches from the floor. He looked down and raised his arms. It didn't ache, he. He couldn't feel it. But he could move around freely without feeling hurt, yet, where would he go? 

 

_ “Would you like me to tell you where you are?” _ The same echoed voice entered his mind. 

“I. Yes-- but, tell me who you are.” Leander replied with worry. 

_ “You don't sound so confident. As expected”.  _

 

Leander heard footsteps in front of him as it became louder. 

_ “You're dreaming. This place isn't real. But I am.”  _ the voice replied. 

There was a snap before two red lights flickered in front of the man. The lights came back on after a while resembling eyes. It darted at every movement he made.

 

“A dream? But-- you're real.” 

_ “Ah, you've forgotten. I'm your friend, I can help you remember. Remember everything you've forgotten.” _

“Why should I trust you, how can you help me and if you are my friend, who are those people who  _ did _ help me?”. 

Silence filled the room, until the lights came closer and another snap was heard. A light appeared behind the eyes revealing a robed figure with messy hair. The silhouette stepped back, 

_ “You shouldn't fret, I'm your friend and I am helping you. I'm going to teach you to safely escape these maniacs you are with. They aren't people and they want your life. This forest was a miasma and you're hallucinating. Witches are screeching and coming closer. Now if you'd please step closer so I can truly assist you.”.  _

“I--” Leander thought and inhaled. “I don't believe you and I won't trust you.”

 

_ “Hmph, it was worth the try”,  _ the figure snapped its fingers and Leander woke up. 

He laid in bed, eyes widened from shock. He should tell somebody. He looked in front of him, a cat boy snoring gently curled into a ball. He didn't bother. He looked away before closing his eyes again trying to recover from this  _ dream _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhnnngngn  
> Made Dolly-boy such a cliche doof  
> anyway here's the dream sequence stuff I was talking abt


	5. Chapter 5

Evan woke up first, stretching outwards greatly with all his limbs unfurling. A cat like yawn was heard from him before he got up and checked on his friend. Leander was awake, eyes half closed with a tiny pool of drool next to his face.

“Good morning!” chanted the boy.

“Good morning, Evan” Leander replied in a tired tone as he looked at him. Leander turned around and lifted himself up, groaning quietly.

 

“How are you? Does it still ache?” Evan questioned.

“I'm fine, I'm still aching but not as much as before. The joints are the problem when it comes to moving, it aches most there.” Leander replied.

“Ah” Evan blurted as he looked through the bag next to him.

“Lift your arm up” Evan requested.

Leander proceeded to follow the boy's instructions for a while, he lifted his arm while scrunching up his sleeve. Evan wiped his arm clean before applying more paste to soothe it. Leander placed the sleeve back.

“Just keep it there, it'll hurt less when it does.”

 

Evan continued to do the same on most of Leander's joints. He asked if he could stand up. Leander nodded as he tried to get up slowly with Evan's assistance. He was able to stand up but he couldn't move around as efficiently. Evan helped and walked Leander out of the tent to sit one of the logs in front of the fireplace. Evan told Leander he'd go to find Lofty. Leander nodded as Evan skidded away. People, kingmaker and higgldies alike came out of their respective tents stretching and yawning.

 

Roland immediately walked over to where Leander was while fixing his hair. “Good morning Leander” chirped the blue haired man. He seemed and happy and annoyed at the same time from Leander's observations.

“Are you okay? You look annoyed.”

“Yeah. Lofty, our kingmaker, y'know, the yellow thingy that walks and talks and has a red torso? Well he slept in my tent last night and couldn't shut his own mouth

“He kept asking me questions from ‘understandable’ to ‘unreasonable’. I couldn't take much more of it, he even asked my sexuality once. It was… quite the experience.” Roland continued.

“It must've been, but. Why were you so happy while walking here?”

“Oh that, uhm” Roland finished tying his hair, his laid his hands behind his neck about to talk.

well, I'm just happy to see you, and alive and… well”.

 

The air changed abruptly with that statement and both men kept quiet until Tani had come in to break the ice.

“Good morning! How are ya? Well, Leander I mean.” Tani chanted.

“I'm fine, I'm aching less but the joints still needs some work.” Leander replied.

“I see, now how are you doing Roland? After the whole fiasco with you and Lofty.”

Roland waited until Tani stopped chuckling “Well, it was OK. I got some sleep.”

 

Tani chuckled even more while Leander just looked at the two with an intrigued face. “Well I'm off! Gonna go help Bracken toast some bread for us. Says she's gonna try and use higgledies this time”.

 

Tani waved goodbye as she skipped away. Evan came back with Lofty from Roland's tent. The four chatted a bit before Leander spoke up.

“I… had this dream. There was a man.. speaking to me. He said he was my friend and that all of you were maniacs coming for my life. I…  didn't believe him so he left me alone.”

 

The air shifted once again as Roland put his hand on his chin. They all decided to get the group together so discuss about the matter while eating breakfast.

 

~~~

“So, a person with red eyes, messy hair, and a robe spoke to you in your dream.” Bracken recapped before biting into another slice.

“Hrmm, it's usually Leander who figures out the problem including magic.”

“But that Leander isn't here now. We have to figure this out ourselves.”

 

Silence enveloped the area until yelling was heard from the distance. “LAND HO BOYS!”.

“Cor! They're here!” Tani remarked with delight.

The ship reached the shore as Batu and Tani signaled their fellow pirates to help pack up.

 

Evan stood up. “Uhm, are OK to walk? If not then…”

“No it's alright, I can walk. I just need a little help”, Leander looked down to his ankles and knees while moving them around.

From his expression it didn't hurt as much from before but as soon as he stood up he began losing his balance.  

“Ah-” Roland stood up and caught him by the arm. He proceeded to place it around his neck helping Leander stay up.

“I-- thank you” Leander replied.

 

Evan lead the way with Lofty by his side while the two followed. They carefully walked up the ramp to greet their other shipmates. Tani had already gotten to the ship wheel while waving at Evan, Batu snuck into the cabins getting a few buckets and towels ready, while Bracken was up on the Crow’s nest trying to get a better signal.

 

“Hey Evan! Where do you think we should go?” Bracken yelled through a megaphone.

“Uhm, oh! We should head for Hydropolis!”

“Should we contact Queen Nerea?”

“Yes! And request assistance with Leander's condition!”.

The two finished yelling at each other and nodded in agreement, Bracken put the megaphone down and proceeded to open up the Leafbook and began giggling softly.

 

Evan looked up front of them to see Roland and Leander by the edge. He decided to leave them alone and followed Lofty into the cabins to have a snack and think about what to do when they get to Hydropolis.

 

“This is… the ocean” Leander remarked as he supported himself by holding onto the railings.

“Yeah, just a whole blue world full of life” Roland added.

The stood quietly as their bangs tickled their own faces with the breeze caressing their cheeks. Roland eyed his way to Leander's face which was drawn on by curiosity, a gentle smile almost reaching his ears, freckles that look like stars, and eyes speckled with excitement. Roland's arms were in a crossed position before bringing it to the back of head with his hands on his ponytail. He scrunched it softly as if to relieve stress as he smiled at his friend while warmth overcame his face. He was blushing. He quickly clapped his hand to his face while letting the other one repositioned itself under the other’s elbow. Leander glanced to the side before he turned his whole head.

“Are you OK?”

“Ah, don't worry about it. I'm… fine, just thinking about… other matters”.

 

They continued staring into the blue view as they were called for lunch. Leander let go of the railing until he wobbled slightly which startled Roland.

 

“Aha, I think I still need your help” Leander remarked.

Leander stood still before Roland came closer to offer his shoulder. Leander held onto him as they walked toward the cabins.

 

Roland tried hard not to think about it but the way he walked with Leander seemed like… courtship. Roland looked away and clapped his other  hand to his face mimicing coughing sounds hoping no one would notice.

 

They headed down into the dining room seeing everyone else discussing about their plan for Hydropolis. Tani who had her hands slammed down on the table before she leaned down some more placing her hands on top of each other before laying her chin on it.

 

“Hee hee. I see you're getting it on there”, she smirked with smile with its ends looking like it might reach her ears before Bracken interrupted.

“Don't say that! Who even taught you that?”

tani eyed her way to Batu as Bracken glanced at him with disappointment.

 

The two sat down Roland took out a towel from his pocket trying to wipe his face. Tani opened her mouth to speak before Bracken squinted at her with annoyment. “OK so,” Evan started “we'll be heading for Hydropolis seeing that I still can't use magic. We've contacted Queen Nerea and she says she can help. We'll be taking one day seeing that the ship improvements and add-ons have helped.”

 

The kitchen door flung open and revealed a black furred cat-person with their hand sticking out with a ladle along with their tail wagging happily.

“Hope you're done your majesty because lunch is on the way!” Floyd said while he waved a ladle in the air. He skidded back inside the small kitchen and brought out a cart full of food.

“Mmm! I missed this!” exclaimed Tani grabbing a drumstick from one of the cart dishes.

“I'm honored that you are Mistress Tani” Floyd thanked as he set up the utensils on the table.

The grimalkin piqued Leander's interest as he leaned forward to look. “That's Floyd, he's a grimalkin and a cook.” Roland told him. Leander leaned back as Floyd placed a plate in front of him.

 

Bracken, who was at the end of the table near the food cart, took one dish at a time before passing to the others.

“Oh, the other people have already eaten, so have as much as you want your majesty!”

“Oh we sure will. Thank you Floyd!” Evan thanked the fellow grimalkin as the others began to eat.

Roland passed Leander food seeing as he can't reach out before dropping a plate. Leander pointed to his food choices while Roland followed.

 

It seemed like a feast seeing how everyone was in a jolly mood. Batu was just as happy since Thetis was able to make a new kind of medication to help with seasickness. Everyone chatted with each other and became curious about Leander's new-found personality. He seemed happier, more childish and curious. Batu even slipped in a few inappropriate jokes just to see Leander's face, along with Evan. Roland and Bracken tried their best to keep the conversation clean.

 

Roland stood up and wiped his mouth with a napkin before speaking.

“I'm gonna head up to the deck if you need anything,” he told the group, “you just have to call Evan or Tani if you need help getting up. They're good kids” Roland spoke to Leander before patting him on the shoulder and leaving.

 

Leander watched as he left and looked down on the table. He fidgeted with his fingers just like before. He closed his eyes and focused on the footsteps above him. The boat was still and the sailors haven't been walking around so much, so it was easy to focus on a set of footsteps directly above him. The footsteps continued before stopping and leaving a creaking sound right after it.

 

He kept his eyes closed for a few more minutes until he looked up and opened them.

“I'm going up deck” he remarked.

Evan jolted from his seat “Do you need help?”

“No, I'll be OK. But thank you”

Leander stood up slowly and wobbled slightly enough for Evan's tail to twitch. Leander turned his body and began walking. He kept his balance and was able to walk properly which relieved Evan as the boy sat back down.

 

Leander walked up to the deck to add Roland in the same area where they watched the ocean move.

“Oh, good evening.” Roland greeted. “I can't believe it's this late, guess I won't be eating dinner tonight.” he chuckled.

 

The sun began to set. The once blue sky was washed over with deeper blues and striking reds and oranges. The sun was already mid way before it reached the horizon. Leander stepped closer and held onto the railings next to Roland. The atmosphere had felt much calmer and the sensation of hair tickling one's face seemed to have another meaning. Roland stepped forward and placed a hand on the railings. They both quietly stared into the sky as it became dark and gloomy. It was cold and the sun disappeared completely only to be replaced by a dark sky speckled with stars.

 

“Uhm, it's late. Can I ask where we’re going to sleep?” Leander asked.

“Oh, that”, Roland crossed his arms at his statement as he began to think.

The sailors began lighting up several lanterns and illuminated the deck with soft warmth. Roland pointed to the way leading down.

“Ah, is it alright if you lead me there?”

“Of course, I was planning on heading down there myself”.

 

The two began walking to the bed quarters. Roland was in the lead with Leander right behind him. Roland always looked back to see if he needed any help as Leander always shook his head saying he's fine.

 

~~~

Roland opened a door to reveal a space room with six beds. The rest of the group was already in bed. Tani was with Evan on his bed chatting away as Lofty was beside Evan the whole time. Batu was busy trying to doze away with several buckets near his bed. Bracken was in her bed lying down wrapped up in her blanket while she was busy tapping away on the Leafbook giggling softly at each post.

 

Roland lead Leander to his own bed which was already next to Roland's. Roland opened up a dresser drawer next to him and handed Leander a set of clothes and pointed to another room which seemed to be some kind of dressing room. “This is your nightie and that's the dressing room. You change in there, I'll be waiting outside. Call me if you need anything.” Roland stated. Leander nodded as they walked over to the door. Leander went in as Roland leaned on the wall next to it. He looked up with his own set of clothes in his arms. He closed his eyes and waited.

 

A few minutes passed before the doorknob clicked.

“I'm done” Leander spoke as he walked out.

“Good, you can place your clothes in the dresser next to your bed”. Leander trotted off as Roland went inside.

 

He placed his clothes and glasses in the said drawer and began to lay in bed. He curled up and realized how he wasn't aching as much anymore. He slipped his feet under the blanket and lifted it up to his waist. He turned around before hearing footsteps coming his way. He sat up to see a blurry unfocused figure of a man in white with unruly long hair. Leander rubbed his eyes before hearing the man speak. “Oh don't worry, it's just me” Roland assured him as he walked over to his own dresser.

 

He slipped his coat and other clothes inside along with his hairband and laid down on his bed. He fluffed his pillow and hand combed his hair before pulling up the sheets. He lay himself to his side and closed his eyes before hearing ruffling noises in front of him. His eye twitched before opening them to see a pair of blue staring right at him. He squinted trying to focus before realizing. Leander faced him as he stared with interest. His eyes darted upwards and around.

 

Roland questioned him and smirked along, “What are you doing?”

“Oh I'm sorry for staring, I was looking at your hair. They way goes in those directions makes me… curious, is it weird?” Leander apologized with an innocent face.

“Yes it is but, I don't mind if you do.”.

“If you say so” Leander smirked back at the response.

 

He continued inspecting Roland's hair as Roland stared into Leander's eyes focusing on its movement. They kept going for a while before their eyes became tired and droopy. Roland fell asleep first as Leander followed. The sound of flame whooshing away was heard, the lights turned off as the room was filled with snores from child, adult, kingmaker and alike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bangs my head on the desk for the fourteenth time*  
> wELL OCEAN TIME  
> I get how there are errors I'll clean those up later hhhhhhh


	6. Chapter 6

Leander woke up in the same dark room from the previous dream. He wasn't hovering this time. 

 

He looked around to find the same man.  _ “Why hello again.” _ , the same echoey voice came from behind him. He turned to check only to see a floating egg like object in the air.

 

_ “You see this? This contain your memories, take it from me then you will have it restored” _ the voice taunted. Leander lunged in front of him trying to snatch the egg before it was moved away. He fumbled trying to retain his balance. 

 

_ “As you can see it won't be that easy… but I'll lend you a glimpse” _ . A snap echoed around the room to reveal another silhouette. It was different from before. A cobra like figure appeared on the same robed man he had seen before. The figure stepped closer to where he was. The spotlight above showed more of the figure’s details. Gold glimmered and twinkled before him revealing a snake snout engraved with scales. The arm entered the light as well along with the egg. Leander looked away and stared at the egg.

 

Multiple memories flashed before him. Scenarios from different times had flickered. The memories started slowing down to show a woman. She had flowing blue hair being held up by a crown, eyes deep red, and a sassy expression. She looked down on him before it flashed another image of her smiling happily at him. 

 

Leander reached out and began to mumble.


	7. Chapter 7

Hours had passed before Roland woke up to the sound of whimpering. He bolted upwards and checked on Evan before directing his eyes on Leander. He was squirming and whimpering angrily. He began to toss and turn as ruffling noises followed. Roland went over to a nearby lamp to light it. It flickered on as Roland got up and kneeled next to Leander's bed. “Hey, are you OK?” he asked as he shook his arm. Leander retracted and curled into a ball with his arms.  _ ‘Crap’  _ Roland thought.

He thought hastily but decisively. Leander was facing him as he continued to whimper, tears quickly flowing from his eyes. Roland began to pat Leander's head “Hey, it's alright, don't cry. Nothing's hurting you here, wake up, it's okay, I'm here. I'm here to protect you”. He comforted him as if he was a child who was having a nightmare, which exactly was happening. Evan started groaning and sat up to see the problem. He panicked for a few seconds before seeing Roland comforting Leander with success. The boy stared as he gripped on his blanket tightly.

 

Leander began to calm down after a minutes of fighting back. He unfurled himself but grabbed onto Roland's arms for support. Roland didn't mind a second of it seeing how well he was used to it. Leander began to mumble with his eyelids tightening along with the flow of tears slowing down. Roland was still on the floor, kneeling as his arms were being held onto. He listened to whatever Leander was saying. He was still angry, his grip tightened as Roland flinched only slightly. 

 

A few more minutes passed before Leander kept quiet. He began to pant before loosening his grip, tears still present. Roland looked over to see what was wrong. “Hey buddy, you there? C’mon, wakey wakey, for me?” he asked gently before Leander's arms began to squirm. Evan kept watching quietly trying not to disturb anyone. One of Leander's arms began to reach out caressing whatever was in its reach. Roland felt the gentle touch on his face as he placed his own hand on it. “Yeah it's OK, I'm here” Roland spoke. Leander began to mumble once again.

 

One syllable after another, the sentence became clearer as he spoke louder. Roland leaned in closer. Evan did the same from a bed away, unable to clearly see what was happening form his angle. 

 

“M…” Leander began, “...my.. my love..”.  Roland jolted back clapping a hand to his face trying to hide his flustered mess, he was tickled pink yet again. Evan jumped up quietly still gripping on his blanket. No-one else woke up, which was a relief to Roland.

 

Leander's eyes flashed open to see Roland in front of him covering his face. His hand was still caressing his face as he slowly retracted it back to him. 

 

“I… I had another dream,” he began panting, “th-the man, he was there again” 

“You can tell that to us later. I just-- I just need to get up.”  Roland replied. 

 

He stood up as Leander stared at him with worry while he still kept his hand to his face. 

“Why are you covering your face like that? Did I do something wrong in my sleep?” 

“N-no, you shouldn't worry.”

Roland sat back down on his bed before seeing Evan sitting up, tense to all that's happened. “Don't worry, he'll be fine too” Roland assured the boy.

 

Leander let go of Roland's arms as he stood up. Roland rubbed his face before he turned around to see Evan. The boy’s mouth began to open until Roland cut in. “We'll discuss it later, you should he some more sleep”. Roland went over to his dresser to take out a now, clean set of clothes. He changed quickly while leaving an impression he took a quick shower and tied his hair up tightly. He came back to his dresser to see Leander wide awake while he curled up in his blanket. He turned to his right seeing Evan to something similar. “I'm going up, I need to get fresh air. I'll be back soon, don't worry” Roland assured the two and he began walking away.

 

As soon as he left, Leander began feeling his face. He rubbed it for a while and felt dry tears.  _ ‘I was… crying?’ _ he thought to himself. He turned to Evan who was still looking before he replied “What happened? Are you.. OK?”. Leander kept quiet for a minute before beginning to answer “Well…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof here we goo o o  
> here's me wrecking Nerea's life bit by bit  
> I am so so r ry  
> anyway here's some father and sons time haha
> 
> * * *
> 
> oof update  
> you read it not me  
> anyway here's me trying to imply that Leander explained to Evan most of the issue


	8. Chapter 8

Roland was up on the deck just in time to see dawn. The sky was brushed with several shades of orange and soft red, the rest was still a calm lilac before the sun rose covering the whole sky with its warmth. Roland basked in its view for a while longer before breathing in and turning around. A whole crew of sailors came walking right up to their stations as a few others still had a sandwich in their mouths. The footsteps echoed in the rooms below.

 

The team was still asleep at the time. Lights gleamed through the windows as the boat rocked gently. Evan and Leander were still in bed wide awake, Bracken was reluctant to get up and tossed to her other side, while Tani, Batu, and Lofty continued to snore with the most intriguing sleeping positions. Roland came back and greeted the two. They both perked up and greeted him back with happy smiles. “You two take a bath and change, we’ll all have breakfast then we’ll talk about it.”

 

There were three separate bathrooms in the room making the two trot over and took a shower. They changed as Evan walked out shaking his head and tail. Water droplets flew about as Roland snickered at how his fur was all fluffy. Roland handed him a comb as Leander came out of another room. He was still in his archon uniform, just without the coat.

 

“Uhm, there was purple coat in my drawer, I didn't touch it. Should I wear it?”

“Well, if you want to.” Roland responded

Leander shook his head gently as he put the towel away.

 

* * *

 

The three walked into the dining room where they had a quick breakfast. Evan looked up at Roland, he sat next to him. “He looks a lot better isn't he?”. Roland smiled back, “Guess so”. Leander finished his meal as he looked down on his plate playing with the scraps. A few footsteps were heard followed by a loud yawn. It was continued by a metal squeaking sound before the figure went through the door. “haaaah… good morningg..” Bracken drowsily greeted the three.

 

She was lazily dressed in her work clothes, her belt loosely on her waist and her leg squeaking loudly. She was holding a tall mug while looking for the kitchen. She went in and came out with the mug full of coffee. She sat down looking for something in her toolset before taking out what seems to be an oil can. She bent down oiling her prosthetic leg and sat back up. She swiftly took a sandwich and scarfed it down in seconds. The other three, who sat opposite to her, were shocked and amused at the same time.

 

“What? Haven't seen someone eat a sandwich that fast?” she said in a complained manner as she continued to sip her coffee. Batu, Tani, and Lofty came into the room with a tired faces, one yawned after another. Lofty hopped up on the table taking a sandwich and stuffing it whole. Bracken looked around for a reaction, nothing.

 

“Wha..? You get shocked seeing me eat a sandwich when you just do nothing when you see some yellow blob with a red shirt doing the same?” Bracken growled.

“That's ‘cuz I've got a bigger mouth than ya. At least mine’s not as big mouthed as youers.” “

Oh you!”

Bracken slammed her mug on the table while glaring at Lofty as he responded with a snarky laugh. “Aight you curs, halt it with the fighting, let's just have a calm breakfast shall we?” Batu spoke as Tani groggily nodded.

 

\---

The rest were finishing up their meals before Leander began to speak, “I had another dream.”. Everyone shared individual stares before looking back at Leander.

 

“He was back, the same man. He had this… egg. He said it had all my memories in it. I tried to get it from him… I failed. But he showed me a few bits of it. It had a lady with blue hair, she had red eyes and a looked like a queen of some kind.”

 

Everyone kept quiet as they thought. It was a quick realization, everyone knew who that blue-haired lady was.

 

“Queen Nerea” Tani began.

“Well at least we know where to start. She's been with Leander fooor… who knows how long” Bracken replied.

The others nodded in unison before Leander continued.

“And about the man… I was able to see him, but he had a different head. His voice was still the same but… he was wearing some sort of helmet. It glimmered with gold scales, it looked like some kind of animal… a snake, yes that's it.”

 

A short silence occurred before Roland spoke up.

“Anything else?”

“No, that's all I could see before I woke up.”

The others were slightly disappointed at the response but they all knew who could be the mysterious man.

 

“Don't you think it could be--”

“Doloran”

Roland cut Evan off before Leander had to ask, “Doloran?”

“He’s the man in your dreams, all that you have to know about him is don't let him take over your soul.”

 

Leander nodded as the others heard a yell from above.

 

“We’re almost there mateys!”

 

The group rejoiced silently as they went back into their room to pack up. Leander went up on dock to watch the nearby kingdom come closer. Roland hurried off to where he was and stood next to him.

 

“That's Hydropolis,” he started, “a kingdom of the sea full of merfolk and humans alike. That's where we’ll find help on trying to get your memories back.”

Leander continued staring as it swiftly came closer and closer. Roland looked over to the Abyss to see if he noticed, guess he must've been absorbed with Hydropolis’s beauty.

 

In a few minutes, and with the help of certain higgledies, they reached Hydropolis’s docks. The anchor was weighed as the ramp was lowered. The team went over to town square as they walked all the way to the palace platform. Leander kept turning his whole head and body in curiosity around as they walked. The people of Hydropolis were baffled to see the behavior of their archon. A few told themselves that wasn't Archon Leander, another group began snapping a photo or two and others didn't really care about the situation.

 

They walked in twos as Evan lead the way with Lofty, Roland with Leander, Tani with Batu, and Bracken at the back tapping away on the Leafbook.

 

“Hydropolis, it seems so… pretty. It's such a lovely place to be in, romantic too.” Leander commented. Roland looked away and began to examine his own surroundings. He held a hand up to his face fidgeting with his hairs and realizing he face was getting warmer. “I guess so too” he finally replied.

 

They reached the platform as the a guard came over to greet them warmly. “Good morning your majesties” he said as he kneeled. Leander had a confused face as he stepped on the platform. He heard Roland snicker as they vanished from thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the chapter before I wreck my bby girl's life and elaborate more in the next few chapters after that ahuhuhu sh it


	9. Chapter 9

Footsteps echoed through the marble halls. Reflective walls and floors as the corridor was decorated with a sea-like accent. They passed by a window as Leander glanced at it. He felt as an instinct that they were in the bottom of the sea. They continued walking as Nerea was on the throne.

 

“Good morning King Evan.” She greeted. “I received your message. Now, where is he?” She demanded.

 

“Talk about straight to the point” Tani mumbled before being shushed by Bracken. Roland told Leander to step forward.

“That's her right? The one in your dreams? Don't worry, she'll help you get your memory back” Roland assured him as he continued waking forward.

 

“May I request all of you to leave?” Queen Nerea said. Evan nodded as the rest of the group walked back into the corridors, including the guards and priestesses. She shook her staff as all the openings were closed shut. She stood up and walked down to where Leander was.

 

“Now, let us begin.” Nerea started, “What do you remember about yourself?”

“Nothing, I was only told about who I was, reminded”

 

“My name is Leander and I've forgotten everything. I've only been reminded all that I know now other than the common known terms.”. Nerea’s face showed grimace at the response. She stood still for a few minutes before looking up. “Here” she waved her staff and a light began brightening from its center. A beam emerged and showed a hologram of a little girl standing formally with a cheerful smile. “Do you remember this? This is me, as a child. You were my friend, we played together.” The hologram showed a little boy in front of the girl sitting down playing with sand making a sand castle. The girl leaned forward raising her hands in the air. “That's you, you were the son of a servant family, my family. We'd play together and you were quite amusing as a child. You were such a crybaby, with the smallest prank I played on you would send you replying to me with a flood of tears” the hologram pictures the girl scaring the little boy as the boy began crying while the girl snickered before apologizing.

 

“Anything yet?” The queen asked.

“...no” he replied. She waved her staff again as the hologram shifted to a sophisticated man standing formally with his hands behind his back.

 

“This is you, Leander Aristides, Archon of Hydropolis. A courageous leader and skilled mage.”

“That's me?”

“Yes, that's should be you”

Nerea glanced every now and then to see any kind of reaction on his face as her spirits fell deeper by the second.

 

* * *

 

Time passed by into hours.

 

The group had been waiting outside the throne room with a few soldiers who were sent out.

Silence enveloped the room for half an hour before Tani grunted, “This is taking so looong”

“Tani, these kind of things take time, don't whine” Roland cut in.

Batu and Lofty was trying to take a snooze while Bracken was already napping the moment she sat down. Evan continued fiddling with his fingers along with Roland as he crossed his arms. The two were anxious as Tani just wander off to wherever she could see. She decided to walk of to the door to get a little peep. The guards were already napping while standing as their masks concealed it.

 

She slipped passed Evan before Roland noticed her.

“What did I say about waiting?” He grumbled.

“Jeez, it’s gonna be alright, just wanna listen to a word.”

“A word”

“That's right cap’n”

She leaned over to the door and rest the side of her head to listen. Her expression changed as she stiffly walked back.

 

“Heugh” Tani said disgusted. “So?” Roland asked. Just as he asked, a loud thump was heard. Everyone who was dozing off jolted upwards, and to those who were already awake became more anxious.

 

A few more minutes passed, Tani said nothing about what she just heard. Batu and Lofty stayed awake, Bracken tried to shake off the idea of falling asleep. The door began shifting left and right before opening. Everyone stared at it to reveal only one man in the room. Silence continued as a few walked forward. Leander was still staring at the throne before hearing people come closer. He turned around to his comrades come closer. “Anything?” Tani said annoyed. “No, I haven't remembered anything by myself. Well, that's what her majesty said.”

 

Everyone looked down in disappointment as Evan tried to keep his own hopes up.

Leander began to speak, “Her majesty, she was cry--”

“We can discuss about this later, just not here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> baHAHAHAHA I AM SO S OR R Y H AH A H A H A  
> I meant to make this chapter a bit more heart wrenching but due to limited time and ideas that wasn't included  
> but hOO BOY WAIT TILL YA'LL REACH CHAPTER T EN  
> please stab me  
> **sc r e e c h


	10. Chapter 10

Roland grabbed Leander's arm as they started walking out the palace. They appeared on the surface of the kingdom as they stepped off the platform. The sun was beginning to set, the streets became quieter as the team continued walking.

 

“By the way Evan, can you use magic now?” Bracken asked. 

Evan’s ears perked up “Oh! I don't know. I haven't tried”. 

Evan gave out a weak laugh out of embarrassment. The walked over to a nearby wall as Evan took out a wand. He continued to do gestures as he began to chant, the floor underneath them began glowing. “Far, far away!”

 

* * *

 

They appeared in the castle as Tani jumped up in joy. 

“Yes! We're back!”. Few grumbles were heard here and there. Everyone noticed they hadn't eaten lunch.

“Well I'm starving” Roland joked. 

Bracken began tapping on a contact terminal, “Well Floyd’s still on the ship and they've got no mage on board” 

Tani groaned at the response. 

“It's OK Tani, it'll take a few minutes after we contact them, how about you get a snack from the pantry?” Evan tried to comfort her. 

“Hmmm, alright!” She chirped as she skipped away. 

The others went to their quarters while Evan, Roland, Lofty and Leander went over to the throne. 

 

Leander looked around in amazement. The castle was much more different than the palace back at Hydropolis. The ceilings were high as the accent of blue and emerald  flew around. There was a moat that he walked over to. Roland was discussing with Evan as he continued to work his kingdom.

 

* * *

 

About roughly ten minutes after, Floyd returned and bolted into the castle kitchen. In no less than the time he came back, he made a full course dinner. Evan was glad that making him make all those recipes he threw at his face the past few months. Everyone came running out their rooms to the dining room and ate till they were full. Tani was able to eat a whole bird while Evan was hanging on to his fish slices.

 

The finished and once Floyd and a few other ladies-in-waiting cleaned up the table and left they began to discuss what happened in Hydropolis.

 

Leander explained how hard she tried, flinging memories one after the other. He said how she slowly broke down after each attempt which ended up with her crying for a while until she teleported out the room. The room was in silence as they shared a few awkward stares. 

“Well now” Batu commented. 

Bracken stood up first “I'm, goin to bed.”

The others nodded.

 

\---

In less than an hour, the room was empty. Everyone left to go to bed. Roland escorted Leander to his room. They were walking through a cold hall lit by the lights lanterns on the walls. “Here's your room, my room’s the one left of it. So if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me.” Roland told him. 

Leander looked around and asked “Then who's room’s on the right of mine?” 

“Oh that. That's Bracken’s.” Roland said.

“If you hear clinking or any kind of mechanical like sound, that's just tinkering so you don't have to worry.” he added. 

“Thank you, I'll remember that.” Leander replied.

 

The two waved goodbye to each other as they walked into their rooms. Roland didn't bother to change. He took his coat off and threw into a rack, he planked himself on his bed while kicking his shoes off. He grabbed the covers and took it up to his face. He seemed so tired all of a sudden. “well maybe it's because I woke up early and ate a lot.” he said to himself out loud.

 

About an hour had passed while he continued to stare at his wall clock. His eyes were still wide awake over something. He just couldn't put his finger on it. He was still too tired to think but he just couldn't go to sleep. The moonlight from his window was the only thing illuminating the room.

 

He sat up scratching his head, he still had his hairband on as it loosely hugged his hair. He stood up quietly and began stretching a bit. He got off his bed and paced around in his room while he was trying to think. He couldn't think, something was clouding his mind. He turned on a lamp and stared at it for a while. “What is it?” He said to himself. He turned around, leaned on his desk and looked up. Everything was quiet until he heard a soft thump on the wall behind him. He did a little jump in shock. “...Leander?”. He made a small panic sound as he went to wear his arms band.

 

He opened the door and looked left and right. Nothing. He continued to hold his breath as he walked over and proceeded to knock on Leander's door. “Hello? Leander are you fine?”. A few seconds until a reply was heard from the other side. “Oh, come in”. Roland opened the door slowly to be shocked with what he saw. Leander had his head on the foot side of the bed as his blanket was placed over his torso while feet under the pillows on the head side of the bed.

 

Roland covered his mouth to chuckle as Leander looked at him and chuckled along. The two finished as Roland came in and closed the door behind him. 

Roland sat next to him on the bed, “Are you really okay with sleeping like that?” he questioned. 

Leander looked at him and blinked twice before replying, “I can't sleep”. 

He looked out the window as the moonlight shined on his face, “It's cold” he added. 

“So why don't you light the fireplace?” Roland pointed at the fireplace in front of the bed. 

Leander lifted his head to look at the fireplace upside down before turning around  to look at it properly. “I don't have anything to light it with.” he answered.

 

Roland put a hand on his chin and thought. “Bracken taught us this spell a month back”. He proceeded to walk over the fireplace and kneeled as he did a few gestures. Leander turned his body and put his hands on his face to watch. In a few seconds, the logs began to light with embers before turning into a small fire. Roland sat down in the hearth as he patted beside him to call Leander. 

 

Leander got up and took his blanket with him as he sat down wrapping himself. He stared at the blurry fire and hovered his hand over it. Embers jumped on his fingers but it didn't burn, _ ‘magic is so cool’ _ he thought to himself. He took his hand back and hid it under his blanket. He stared at the fire before looking back at Roland, his eyes were getting droopy but he continued to stare along with him. He looked back and rubbed his eyes, he was finally getting sleepy. 

 

“Roland…” Leander spoke. 

Roland looked up in response, his eyes still droopy.

“Roland Crane, was it? You're full name?” 

”Y-yeah” Roland's eyes lit up.

“And Evan. Evan Pettywhisker, house of Tildrum?” 

“Yeah that's.. right.”, Roland put a hand to his chin to think.  _ ‘What's making him remember, and why now?’ _ he thought. 

“What else do you remember?” he questioned. 

“Hrmm, I can start with your origins maybe?” Leander responded as his tone began to seem depressed as his eyes began to squint with all the memories he's getting. 

“Oh sure, it's alright for a start.” Roland replied. 

 

“So..” Leander started, “you come from another world. You were a president of a major country, physically older and you have a son. You were.. going somewhere before your country was nuked and you were sent here, only physically younger. You met Evan on his coronation day and helped him escaped when it became a coup.” Leander said.

 

Roland looked into the fire and pondered, Leander noticed a sad sigh coming from him. 

“Should.. I continue?” Leander asked concerningly.

“If you like, what about Evan's?” Roland said without looking away. 

 

“Evan… He was part of a royal line and was to be king of a kingdom named Ding Dong Dell. In the kingdom’s history, grimalkin and humanfolk coexisted as well as some micekind who fought to continue living. A coup was staged during his coronation day and was terribly scarred by the fact his father and mother figure died. He made a promise with his governess, Aranella was it? made Evermore and became king of it. He's a hybrid grimalkin and human and was the first of his line to do so. You are his Chief Cousul and I'm the Junior Counsul as well as the Minister of Spellworks.”. 

 

“You… remembered a lot, actually. But why? Why only now…” Roland replied as he grumbled out a few thoughts. 

“I don't know, they just seem to be so fuzzy when they come to me, then they clear up when…” Leander paused and mumbled a few words. 

“When?” Roland asked in the midst of suspense. 

“When I'm with you…” Roland began to shiver feeling the goosebumps around him form, he brought up his hand over to his nose which covered the rest of his mouth, his surroundings became.. much warmer.  _ ‘Ugh’ _ Roland thought while squinting. He was flustered. “Could you… tell me when exactly? For clarification” 

“Ah, sure.”

“Well, I started getting these memories memories when I got my second dream, then a few pieces started to float round when I talked to you. I'd get a few more pieces every time that happened, and not with anyone else. They became much clearer ever since you came here, in my room. That's why I thought it was because of you.” 

“Only me?” 

“Yes, I couldn't remember getting these memories from talking or.. interacting to anyone else. I even remember going through the Broadleaf factory, Dreamer’s Doors, even the time we made that staged betrayal.” 

Leander began chuckling after the last statement. Roland gave out a little muffled laugh under his hand before his eyes became heavier and heavier.  _ ‘We’ll just… talk about this tomorrow’ _ Roland thought. He gave out a quiet yawn before putting his hand away. Leander stopped laughing and started looking into the fire again.

 

He was about to get up before something rested on his shoulder. He became still for a while before he heard snoring, he finally turned his head to look before he saw his friend leaning on him as he snored gently.

  
_ ‘Wha… what should I do?’ _ He didn't really know. He kept a finger on his lips before he took action. He took his blanket and wrapped it around them. They were both warm, it felt nice. Leander felt his eyes getting heavier and finally put them to rest as he shut them closed. He leaned back as the fire cackled gently through the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey did you bring the knife because *screeches in 170 decibels*


	11. Chapter 11

Leander woke up in the same dark room. He immediately tried to find that mysterious person, Doloran, if he remembered right. He saw him right next to him with the light showing him crossing his legs under his robe as it seemed as if he was sitting. 

 

He had a teacup and a saucer in his hands as a teapot floated next to him, his eyes were red as it began to look back at him. “So… have you figured it out yet?” Doloran's voice echoed. 

“You're Doloran, right?” Leander questioned in a persisting tone. 

“That is correct, have you found a way to get your memories back?”

Leander shook is head, “How?”. 

An unsettling silence formed between the two. Doloran snapped his fingers as the tea set disappeared. He stopped hovering in the air and stood on his feet. The placement of his eyes were moved and formed a more diamond-like shape.

 

He walked over to the light as the scales of his mask shined and reflected on Leander's glasses lens. An arm proceeded to come closer with the egg. “This is what you need, is it not?” he teased Leander while moving the egg closer to his face. Leander stepped back before lunging forward the grab it. Doloran teleported behind him leaving a dark purple smoke from where he once was. Leander turned quickly and clenched his fists.

“All that you need to do is…” Doloran stopped as Leander pursed his lips in tension. He was beginning to black out, everything was fading, he was waking up. Leander began to shake and panic and looked at Doloran straight in his mask’s dull and evil eyes. 

 

He smirked before answering, “.. go to the same place where you ‘almost’ met your supposed demise”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dream time I know, I know  
> changed the formatting and everything else before it. Not too proud but its better  
> Also more doof Doloran because I'm _re a l l y_ running out of ideas here


	12. Chapter 12

It was morning. Surprisingly, Bracken was seen awake earlier than usual. She was still her groggy self, walking around with her coffee mug wherever she went. Since they were back at the castle, she wore her nightie like usual until the last hour of the morning. She just came back from the pantry with a fresh cup of coffee in her hand, Evan just requested that she’d check on Roland and Leander.

 

She went over the dorm hall and walked over to Roland's door. She knocked on it as she sipped.

“Hey cheeeiif~ yo, you awake or somethin?” She said in her usual tired tone. No reply. She knocked on the door a few more times.

“Wakey wakey counsul boy! It isn't faaiir, you get more sleep and I don't? Well sure I woke up early by myself but Evan needs you! Shouldn't you be awake by now?” She complained.

She grabbed the doorknob and turned it, it was unlocked. “I'm comin iiiin!” She announced. She slammed the door open.

 

“ROLAND, WAKE. UP!” she yelled. She noticed a lump covered by the blankets on his bed.

“Ya cheeky bastard get the hell up, or do I need to wack ya with my leg--” she lost her temper and grabbed onto the sheets with her other hand. “--wake UP!”. She threw the blankets in the air. “What the-”. She fumbled a bit and threw the blankets to the side. “Bastard…” she grumbled under her breath.

 

She stormed out the room drinking her coffee aggressively as she continued waking over to Leander's room. She did three loud knocks before she grumbled again.

 

She rest the side of her face on the door to listen, “Heyyy!!! Not you too! Leander get up Evan’s calling you!!”.

She stood up straight before reaching for the doorknob. She tried turning it but it was locked. She didn't want to bother talking so she bent down to peep through the key lock. She saw the fireplace and a blanket on the floor. The blanket had an arm sticking out along with a dark blue hump.

“Hey Roland!!! Why are you there? Just get up and help Evan already!” She yelled through the hole. She didn't want to move and look around so she didn't get to see the bed.

 _‘Why is he there? Concerned? Hmmmnnngg Leander's prolly on his bed or somethin’_ she thought to herself. She continued to look through the hole once more to see the blanket twitch. She waited for a little while sipping her coffee. The blanket twitched some more while Bracken continued watching hoping that Roland would get up at some point.

“Just-- get up already.” she mumbled angrily.

 

The blanket finally shot up… but it wasn't Roland.

“heAWHATSIT” Bracken shouted in disgust as she herself jolted backwards spilling some of her coffee. “What the-- what the heck man!” she yelled some more before walking away. _‘Ugh, I don't care anymore they can just wake themselves up.’_

She walked away into her room and shut it closed.

 

* * *

“Ah!”

 

Leander jolted upwards panting before rubbing his eyes. He heard something splash and someone yelling through the wall and looked to the door. He scratched his head before he turned back to the fireplace, the fire died through the night. He looked down as he felt something on his legs. He took the blanket off and saw another person on him. He looked to his left to see their face.

“Ro… land?” he said while trying to remember his dream. He had to get up, so he began shaking Roland to wake him up.

“Roland, hey. Can you wake up please? I need you to get off of me.”. Roland began twitching before opening his eyes slowly. He lifted his head to look and saw Leander shaking him.

“Good Morning!” Leander greeted.

“Oh.. haaah.. g’morning Leander..” Roland greeted back while yawning in between. He lifted his arm to his forehead and began rubbing it.

“Uhm, can you get up now please?” Leander asked again.

“Oh… sorry”.

Roland stood up and brushed off ashes from himself. His hairband fell off and landed on the floor. Leander picked up the hairband as he stood up and gave it to Roland.

“Here, I'm going to take a bath, I already have my clothes so you don't have to worry.” Leander stated.

“Oh alright” Roland replied while hand combing his hair. Leander went into the bathroom which left Roland by himself.

 

He was drowsy upon waking up but as he continued combing his hair he began to realize where he was. He slowed down while realizing more and more. He clapped his hand to his face and shook his head. He stared to run to the door and sprint to his room. He closed it shut and sat on his bed. He buried his face into his hands while making embarrassed whimpers. He did it for ten minutes before looking up to his wall clock. “Gah, I'm late--”. He got up and started to clean himself up, took a quick shower, got dressed and sprinted out.

 

* * *

Evan was on his throne while doing kingly duties as Leander watched curiously. He heard running footsteps and looked to the side. Roland ran out from the corridor and stopped to catch his breath. He stood up straight and walked over to Evan. Evan’s perked up and his tail began to wag, Leander waved back while smiling.

“Oh Roland! Good morning! You're hair--” Evan greeted while noticing Roland's wet hair dripping on the floor.

“Ah, sorry” Roland fumbled trying to find something to dry his hair with.

“Oh don't worry! I can do something.”

Evan stood up from his throne and materialized a wand. He walked behind Roland and did a spell. Roland felt wind blowing before it started swirling around his hair. It stopped and he began to feel his hair.

“The higgledies were asleep but I was able to control the spell and conjure up my own wind!” Evan chirped.

“Wow, thanks Evan.”. Roland heard Leander snicker so he responded by sticking his tongue out childishly. Evan didn't see what was happening so he continued back to his throne and did the rest of his morning duties.

 

\---

Roland combed his hair as Leander started to look down to fiddle with his fingers. Roland just finished up tying his hair before noticing Leander.

“It's a new dream isn't it?” Roland asked.

“Yeah” Leander nodded his head along with the reply.

“A dream? Then let's get everybody together.” Evan suggested

 

* * *

Everyone gathered at the dining table having their own breakfast. Bracken was noticeably calmer and was in her work clothes, she was dressed up nicely and spoke nothing about this morning. Everyone was almost done finishing before Leander started.

“Doloran, he was there again. As usual. He said something like… ‘Go to the place where you met your demise.’”

“Demise? Dead, like?” Tani said after gulping a whole glass of milk.

“Then we go back to the cave?” Evan asked.

“Yes, but we have to be prepared this time, the same monster might come up and it might just be a trap. Leander knows a little about combat and protecting himself.” Roland stated.

“So, you're saying we shouldn't go?” Bracken questioned with a sassy tone.

“Well-- no it's just, I'm worried.” Roland stammered.

“There's really nowhere else to go to get this bloke’s memories back, this might even be the only way” Lofty said as he hopped on the table.

“Hmm, so it's decided. We'll all go to the same cave. We’ll do it now, in fact” Evan announced.

“Now, Evan lad? Seems a bit too soon.” Batu asked.

“The sooner the better, me and Lofty noticed the entrance fade for a split second the time we came out.”

“Oh, so that's why the stats of it were wonky.” Bracken said.

“Don't worry this is just engineer talk” she added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if I made Bracken a hecking j e r k  
> (Why was that cut off holy shit)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry if this doesn't make sense anymore  
> blame my dumb dreams and that one oneshot that rotted away in some folder that got corrupted bc of dumb bootleg Hatoful Boyfriend my sister downloaded a week ago

A few hours passed of everyone getting ready. Bracken said the Zippelin was fixed up early so they decided to go there, due to the fact the island didn't have a tripdoor. Everyone who noticed was unsure if Leander was excited about getting on the Zippelin or getting his memories back. 

 

They decided to go to Hydropolis first and call the Zippelin from there, ignoring the few stares from the palace guards from afar. They hopped on and zipped away to the mysterious island. 

 

\---

It was afternoon as the sun shone on the sea below them. Leander was on the viewing docks below the deck. He saw the birds passing by along with the clouds they were in through the windows. He was relaxed by the sight of it and went over the control room. Bracken was manning the ship, she didn't lose concentration, only when she had to make sure her coffee tumbler was full after checking seven times. She heard a knock on the door and checked a screen to see who it was. She nodded by herself and pressed a button to open the door. 

 

Leander walked in and looked out the window before turning his attention to the empty seat next to her. 

“Why is this seat empty?” 

“Oh that. It's probably because people don't like working with me on something this serious.”

“How are the stats?”

“Oh, I'm getting the signal but”, she paused, “it seems to be getting weaker and weaker”

 

“Can you check the screen for me? I'm gonna go add some enhancers to the sensors” Bracken asked him as she dived down from her seat to the a space underneath the controls. Leander nodded and walked over to the panels. He looked up in awe at its technology, unknown to him. Bracken’s head popped out from the little space after a little while and noticed Leander's face light up. 

“What is it?” she asked tensely

“A dot,” Leander began pointing the screen, “its black and its… blinking”

Bracken shot up and looked at the screen in tilted her head in a confused manner, “What dot?”

“A dot, a big black one”

“Where is it?” 

“Right there, in the middle” he responded as he pointed to the middle of the radar.

 

The door to the room began squeaking slowly as it revealed Evan rushing in.

He exclaimed, “The cave! It's right below us”

Lofty hopped in flailing his arms, “Hurry nun! It's disappearing like youer mum’s famous porridge!”

Bracken yelped and took a microphone as she started announcing, “Eveyone, brace yourselves! We are taking a sudden stop. I repeat. We are taking a sudden stop  _ now _ ”, she proceed to grab a lever and pulled it straight down.

The ships was at a halt and almost everyone and everything tipped over. Bracken started the landing sequence as she told everybody to get ready at the ramp. 

 

The ship landed and everyone began running out hastily. The island itself began fading, the entrance of the cave was at a translucent phase but the inside was still pitch black. As they began running, Tani felt the ground moving. The dirt was already at a fuzzy state as Tani's feet began sinking. She hopped out and began yelping, “Oi, Guys! The floor’s sinking!”

 

In a matter of seconds, Batu looked to his fee and saw the ground devouring him at a knee-high level, he shoveled himself out with his bare hands with the help of others as everyone was confounded by the fact there was no dirt residue on anyone who was sinking. Lofty followed as he started to flail his arms for help while Bracken hopped on an hammer noticing it was sinking along with her. 

They sprinted into the cave where it was completely dark, while the land was solid. They all stopped and panted to catch their breath. Evan looked outside to see the Zippelin in the air. The island had disappeared and was replaced by an ominous fog, the cave was the only thing left physical. Static was heard from Bracken's communication unit as she took it out. She began tapping away and the Zippelin zipped out of sight. Tani questioned as she kept panting, “Wha… where did it go?”

Bracken took a deep breath and replied as she put away the communication unit, “They said the land disappeared and replaced by some shadow fog, so I told them so wait somewhere else while we're gone”

“Then we better hurry!” Lofty exclaimed pointing to the cave opening.

It was crumbling along with the ceiling as the others began retreating inside. Evan took his wand out and he made a light source that illuminated what was needed. “Is… is everyone okay?” Roland asked the group. Some of them nodded while some managed to  groan a “yes”. “We have to hurry, we don't have much time” Evan spoke.

“That's what I've been sayin’ before we even got on board!” Lofty exclaimed in an annoyed manner.

 

\---

They all started to go through the narrow space, the ceiling brushing Batu’s bandana as the others started feeling the walls and walking in twos with Evan leading the way once again. Tani noticed the path going straight ahead and commented, “Shouldn't there… be a fork at some point?”. Everyone walked slower at the comment as Evan tapped his wand. The light from it became a ray and he proceeded to point it straight into the cave as it seemed to reveal a never ending tunnel with no end.

Leander whimpered, “Should we--”

“We’re pushing forward, there's no going back now. We're doing this for you” Evan cut him off as they continued walking forward.

Leander tried to apologize, “I never meant to be an annoyance”

“You never were, it was my fault” Evan announced. “I dragged us here, and I was the one who left you there to get yourself hurt.”. He slowed down some more as the light began shaking.

Roland heard him sniffing, he walked forward and placed a shoulder on him and tried to comfort him, they all stopped as he spoke, “Evan, we trust you, and you should trust us. You did no wrong, you were only thinking for the best. You don't have to cr--”

“I-- I’m--” Evan cut him off trying to form a sentence being broken apart by sniffles. He gulped and opened his mouth, “I-- Th-thank you.”. He held a hand up to his face trying to wipe off his tears.

 

Everyone stood still as Evan calmed down. Bracken handed him a handkerchief to dry the rest of his face. 

“Let's… keep going.” Evan spoke. Roland went back to his lane as Lofty hopped back next to Evan. They continued walking forward in a briskly as they heard rumbling sounds behind them. Leander was next to Roland on the third lane and began to look down. He started squinting and murmuring to himself. Roland noticed and looked beside him only to notice something “hooked” on his sleeve. He looked to down to check, only to see Leander's hand swinging in unison. He began to look back up only to feel the same “hooked” feeling again. He looked straight ahead and looked at his arm from his peripheral vision to see a hand trying to grab it. His eyes darted to Leander's face, which was still looking down. Roland relaxed himself and swung his arm slower as they walked and moved closer to his right. 

 

He felt the end of sleeve being grabbed again, only to be clutching harder. Bracken was busy tapping away on her comm. unit focusing solely on it. Roland looked at Leander and asked, “What's wrong?”.

Leander breathed deeply before bringing his other hand to the side of his head. “Look… left?”, he mumbled. 

“Left?” Roland questioned.

Evan stopped abruptly as everyone began to notice a wall in their tracks. 

“Crickey, what now?” Tani asked worriedly.

Leander looked to his left which seemed as if he was staring right at Roland. Roland stared back before leaning away revealing a small, glimmering stone.

It shone purple as Evan pointed the light at it. Leander, while still clutching Roland's sleeve, walked over to the stone. It was small and looked like it was injected into the wall, seeing the cracks near it and loose pebbles around it. He had his hand go over to the stone from his head. It hovered over it as a flash of light reflected on his glasses lens. He tapped it with his finger as he felt a jolt of pain go through this arm and a feeling of pain shoot through his head.

 

He fell to his knees and began clutching his head with both hands. He shut his eyes as he began to shake, shivers traveling all over his body. The others turned their backs to look as Bracken dropped her comm. unit on the floor. Roland kneeled down, facing Leander as he grabbed his shoulders. A familiar feeling was able to find its way to him. A…. voice and screens of purple flashed through his mind before shaking it off. He looked back at Leander only to see his eyes open, staring down at the floor before it itself flashed lilac. He noticed as his pupils became smaller while his irises began to turn into slits. 

 

Leander proceeded to grunt as he squeezed his arms closer to his face. His right hand had fog flowing out of it, dark and violet. Black started to branch to his fingertips from his arm under his sleeve, consuming it whole. Roland was about to tug the end of his sleeve before he screeched. It echoed across the narrow walls as everyone began covering their ears. Leander stood up as a large “claw” began forming on his right arm. He swung to his right as Evan and Tani yelped. Batu let himself fall to the floor carrying his daughter up high above him as Evan fell back as Lofty tugged his leg. The slash missed Evan by the nose, mortified as his tail began to fluff up and his ears turning back. The wall next to him had a slit in the middle before it started shaking, Evan had his tail in between his legs before hopping out of reach, with Lofty clutching the end of his cape, from the crumbling rocks above him.

 

Evan found himself at Leander's feet as he looked up. “Are you OK?” He panted. Leander began clutching his head again while his arm began reverting to normal. Roland stood up slowly, followed by him grabbing Leander's shoulder again. “Leander, calm down” he ordered. Leander breathed in deeply as he shakily breathed out. He dropped his hands as he looked in front of him.

“I'm sorry, what… what happened?” He questioned, feeling weak.

“You lost youer flippin mind and youer hand started goin black! ‘Slashed the wall and hit youer friend.” Lofty exclaimed.

“He didn't hit me! Besides, he made an opening.” Evan spoke and pointed to the wall of rubble.

 

Soft light leaked out the nooks between the pebbles and rocks, something blue and red. Batu and Bracken stepped forward and started to shovel out the debris while the rest checked on Leander. Bracken's face lit up as she saw the s as cave space, noticing how the light disappeared. 

Her brows knitted together as she started sprinting to the open area, she gave out what seemed like a battle cry, “No, you're  **not** gonna hurt my friends!”. She materialized a hammer and booked it. She was a meter away from the second openinginky to have a strong, bleak feeling numb her whole body. She was still for a split second before being flung back, rubber-banded back to the pile of rubble. The hammer disappeared as she began groaning in pain. 

“Ugh… I'm an idiot.” she grunted.

“Ouch, that hurt.” Tani commented.

Evan ran straight to her as he applied a bit of soreaway and passed her a tumbler. She chugged halfway and gave out a sigh. 

Roland stared at the opening as Leander tried to get back to senses. A light reflected on the second opening, a force field. “You… stay here, I'll be back” he told Leander. He began walking forward and placed a hand on where the force field was supposed to be. It phased through as he gave out a soft gasp. Leander stood up straight and pushed against the walls for support as he walked over to where Roland was. “You…” he blurted. He clenched his right hand to feel it getting numb, but he walked forward into the cave space. “Dolo… you…” he murmured. 

 

“Good afternoon”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooohh, chunky paragraphs, wonder what that means  
> anyway thanks for (still) reading and waiting for this haha, I can't imagine  
> I'll update later, I'm carrying a baby  
> also dark magic woohoo
> 
> tune in next week for that final chapter  
> probably


	14. Chapter 14

Doloran.

 

His mask’s eyes flashed red, his stance, uniform standing in the middle of the area. He grasped his staff with confidence to see Evan trot over next to the two of them, wielding a sword.

 

“I'm surprised you took this late. How was it?” he spoke. He gave out a little smirk and held a hand up to his face, pushing the snout of his mask a little upwards. “I never expected to snarl under your breath, I was expecting you to do it a little… earlier” he stated as he shot a glare at Roland's eyes.

“Doloran! Where are his memories?” exclaimed Evan, brandishing his sword at Doloran while he stepped closer, “we don't want to fight!”

Doloran snickered and put his hand in front of him as a wisp of smoke appeared hovering over his palm. The wisp grew and spiraled in place, only to disappear and reveal an ovular object in his hands. “Was this it?” he taunted giving the object a little shake.

“The egg!” chanted the three in unison.

“Evan!” a voice exclaimed as Evan turned his back.

Tani was banging on the invisible wall, instinctively stabbing it with a lance seconds later. “You’re gonna have to this yourselves! We're sorry!” she lamented while dematerializing her weapon.

 

Evan looked back to Doloran as he continued to nark them, “I see your companions are worried. Shall they worry more? or less?”.

Evan and Roland pursed their lips resisting the urge to strike, as Leander held his hand to to his head once more. He heard a shrill go through his head, he shook and felt as if his lenses were about to shatter. But he stood still.

Doloran banged his staff on the floor making the three look back. Wind, accompanied by loud rushing sounds, blew past them going into the narrow path were everyone else was. Tani and Lofty, who were still in front, got flown back knocking Batu and Bracken to the ground. The wind turned black and spiraled around them, as if shadows were engulfing them into another dimension. Evan yelped and ran to them ignoring Roland's gesture to stop.

 

He reached out into the bleak darkness of the wind and stopped abruptly to see everything black out. In only a split second, he turned pale, white as winter snow, all parts of him were desaturated. The tips of his ears showed ash blowing off, until he crumbled into a sad pile of ash on the floor, blown away by the accompanied wind.

 

It happened fast, too fast.

 

“ **_EVAN!_ ** ” Tani yelled and grieved from the vortex. Roland and Leander stood still in their tracks to see their beloved friend disappear in front of their eyes. Cries were heard from the middle of the tornado as Roland felt like he could collapse. Leander still heard the shrills in his head and heard nothing except his hearing turn mute.

 

“Perfect.” Doloran murmured.

He snapped his fingers as the tornado stopped. The fog stayed physical and headed straight for Roland’s face. It shot through the air as it wrapped itself around Roland's neck before engulfing his whole body. He too turned to ash as Leander followed and didn't bother to fight as he already felt weak.

 

The rest of the group was still on the ground before Tani stood up. She glew gold as an aura formed around her. He was passed a gold glim as she stood up. She summoned a myriad of weapons, spears, halberds and the like, circling her before she aimed straight ahead of her. She gave out a thundering roar as her tears flew in all directions. She dashed ahead and raised her arm up high as the spears around her flew forward as she flung her arm.

 

The pointed ends shined before Doloran had escaped into a plume of smoke that wooshed away. Some spears broke as others clanged as it hit the ground, while Tani fell to her knees and stared at the ground. She felt empty and weak in all senses as Lofty began trotting over to her trying to cheer her up.

 

“Flip mun, not you too!” he exclaimed.

“Now youer lookin pale as heck too! Emotionally empty! Hmmm, I wonder” he grumbled. He hopped a few steps in front of her to see her eyes washed from color as if she had no pupils at all. “Best to just… wait and see what the flip happens next..” he lamented as he sat down next to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hrm hrm  
> p short I know  
> Anyway, they’re gone and I don’t really know how Lofty’s even supposed to react to this so applause to me for breaking character  
> whoo  
> hnng Tani bby I’m sorry


	15. Chapter 15

It was empty, sad and desolate. The area was dark and gloomy showing no ends or life. A never ending nightmare.

 

Cries were heard from all directions, people grieving, screeching, stating their last wishes.

 

Roland groaned as he stood up, examining wherever he was. He stumbled a step back to feel fabric under his boot. He turned around and looked down.

“Evan!” he yelled in relief.

He bent down to pick up the young boy, seeing how he was lying on the ground, back facing Roland. He took Evan by the shoulders where his cape was and made him sit up. Evan opened his eyes slowly trying to focus whatever’s in front of him before noticing his own face getting wet.

“Roland…” he mumbled.

“You're crying.” the two spoke in unison, their faces shocked from the response.

 

Evan held his hands up to his face to feel streams tears flowing out of his eyes, as if he were trying to cry rivers. Roland let go and did the same. “Where's Leander?” Evan questioned. 

“I don't know, I just got up.” Roland responded trying to wipe away his tears.

The two looked around to figure out where they were, listening to the constant cries of depressed people. Evan dropped his ears and rubbed his fingers together and pondered if he really crumbled into ash. “Are we… dead?” he asked again.

Roland looked at him in the eyes, tears still flowing out. He opened his mouth to speak until they heard footsteps at the distance. Roland shot up as Evan fumbled trying to stand up on his own. 

 

Leander was there facing them, still as a tree under a strong spotlight, tears glimmering as it streamed down his face. His eyes were closed but the shine on his glasses covered the view of it. He looked up with a blank expression with the shine still keeping his lenses opaque as Roland and Evan yelled his name, “Leander! Are you OK?”.

 

Leander tried to move after lifting his head, yet something was restraining him. He still felt weak but the shrills in his head stopped. He felt something wrapping his limbs, something thin but sturdy enough to cut him.

 

String, as if he were being held back like a defenseless puppet.

 

Soon, he tried to speak, only to be shot up into the air. Arms above him, his head tilted to the left, and his legs motionless other than swaying left to right as he hovered above the ground. The two others gasped and tried to run to him, only to be interrupted by a soft moving wind sound. One turned their back while the other kept looking forward as they both materialized their weapons, keeping account of their poor friend in the air.

 

The lights dimmed as the seconds passed by making the already dark land pitch dark, only leaving the spotlight to illuminate the rest of the room. A cackle was heard as footsteps followed. “How is the place? Is it decent enough to see your true demise?”, a voice mocked them.

 

The footsteps continued as red lights faded into view along with a weak silhouette, it appeared next to Leander. “Doloran, please! We don’t want to do this! We don’t want to fight!” Evan exclaimed, sounding desperate. Roland kept his stance while focusing in front of him, his eyes trying to focus on whatever might jump on them in the dark. Evan kept his guard up as he approached slowly, Roland followed by walking backwards. A snap was heard, the spotlight flickered, the voices stopped. The area was surrounded by a firewall, finally illuminating the rest of the space in its fiery lilac glow.

 

“Keep your guard up Evan. We’re in for a ride” Roland muttered. Evan replied with a “hmph!” as his ears twisted back and his tail by his side. “Ah, so you expect to fight me then?” Doloran spoke with fake enthusiasm. “Well I’m sorry to correct you but,” he disappeared into a plume of smoke and replying in a echoed voice, “I think your friend will have to take my place.”

 

The two gasped as Roland could already imagine Doloran smirking under his dumb mask. Leander was lowered to the ground back on his feet, into a normal standing position. He looked straight ahead of him, his lenses still concealed by the lighting, shooting a lifeless glance into Evan’s eyes. Roland turned and stood beside Evan brandishing his sword with him. The strings Leander felt became physical and glowed in a fluorescent magenta shade. The shine from his lenses disappeared revealing a lifeless soul. It was dull, a single shade of blue no matter where the lighting was.

 

He closed his eyes and begun to wrap his arms around his face, whimpering in pain. He fell to the ground curling into a ball with his tears flowing strongly, turning into a subtle shade of lavender. The strings that were tied to him were irritated and began to pull him back into standing position. Evan hesitantly stepped forward, subtly lowering his sword. Roland grabbed his arm and signaled him to stop. Leander’s whimpering stopped as if his mouth was zipped shut. His lavender colored tears stopped flowing. He stood up slowly showing no problem in doing so. He kept his head lowered and stood straight with his arms behind his back.

 

The strings were back above him, loose and lifeless. A string attached to his head lifted it up showing a smile that beamed, reaching each of his ears like a phycopath. His scleras flickered from black to white once with his irises in a striking psychedelic purple color. His pupils transformed into slits with a glint of bloodlust.

 

“No…” Evan whimpered, with his ears falling behind him, his tail wrapping his leg and his sword slowly dropping in front of him. Roland nudged Evan to keep his guard up while he gripped his sword tightly, shaking slightly. They stopped crying and begun to wipe the rest of their tears off their faces. Roland gritted his teeth in spite of the idea of having to fight the one they’re supposed to save. The two were resentful, but they had no choice as Leander was readying a fighting stance summoning a spear from the darkness that surrounded them.

 

The flames roared angrily as it grew taller. Leander lunged forward as Evan backed away. Roland had begun to jump in front of him ready to strike as Leander was about to stab.

“Don’t hurt him!” Evan yelled at him.

Roland was about to hit Leander’s legs only to parry him when hearing the poor boy’s voice. “That’s still him! If we kill him he’s not coming back!” Evan reminded.

Roland grunted trying to figure out a plan, “What do you think we should do? Knock some sense back into him?” Roland exclaimed in the sounds of clashing weapons.

“Yes, exactly! We must at least try to talk to him!” Evan responded after diving away from another one of Leander’s attacks. 

 

Roland thought in the midst of blocking each one of Leander’s attacks. He tried speaking only to be overwhelmed by the sound of clashing and the fire roaring. It only became worse after every word he and Evan made, or sounds of effort they tried making. Leander had been attacking faster while gradually increasing his momentum and grace with his attacks leaving Roland in the dust, trying to pant. The two heard a chuckle in the distance as they groaned, “This isn’t gonna make this go anywhere Evan.” Roland croaked. They both noticed how Leander was focusing on Roland, so Evan took the chance to catch his breath and fire nullifying spells at him. 

 

He tried using light, only to be extinguished by the darkness around him, so he took his chances by firing fire balls at him. Leander noticed every attack the boy tried to make and deflected it with no problem whatsoever while aiming it to graze Evan’s nose every time it did. Roland had noticed the movement they made when they were parrying always went circular. So he rolled out of the circle and took out a bottle of Rocket Fuel. He chugged it down completely and left a sound of disgust, but he received the stamina he needed and dodged from another spear that almost hit his sleeve.

 

Evan was on the opposite side of the ring as he bit on another soreaway leaf, keeping himself alive. He was charging a spell with his wand, watching the fight between two men that looked graceful enough as if they were practicing a dance routine. The magenta strings that controlled Leander looked stiff and always came from above him, swaying with every movement he made, or the other way around. His style looked lifeless and firm, with accompanying grace from the man’s appearance itself along with the psychotic grin plastered on his face. Leander pushed Roland to the ground to fling the spear at Evan. The boy yelped and released the multiple orbs at it. As the orbs were flying, it disappated from sight, leaving the seemingly invisible homing spear zooming towards him. Evan yelped once more swapping his wand out for his sword as he was able to deflect the spear in time.

 

The spear flew back to Leander as he turned around to be greeted by a blade brandished in front of him. He summoned another spear to parry Roland’s sword to be accompanied by the returning spear. Roland was pushed to the ground with the two spears closing in on him making him cut himself with his own sword. He couldn’t falter, he pushed back with all his might making Leander lose control of the two spears. The two sticks were in the air, one dissappeared mid-air while the other rubber-banded back to Roland. As he was about to roll away, the spear finally cut through his sleeve and scraped his arm.

 

He was still on the ground, clenching the side of his left arm. Leander stood still and watched. Evan hesitated to come closer to the point were he stood in place like a statue trying to figure out a descision. Roland didn’t feel the cut, he only felt something piercing him. He began to hyperventilate as he clenched harder only to let the blood seep out faster. 

 

In a split second, something bleak shot through his heart from his arm and began engulfing it in its negativity. From what he saw, fog, pitch black in color, oozed out of his chest. It hissed and wrapped around his eyes, blinding him. He blinked twice before looking up, only too see something glimmering gold and laughed as if it were mocking him. He fumed with rage as he picked himself up planning to hit the robed man. Leander was nowhere in sight, he only continued to fight the man he felt to seek revenge from.

“Roland stop it!” Evan exclaimed when only Roland was too focused on bloodlust. 

Evan yelled at him with all his might, only for him realizing he was fading away from Roland’s conscious.

 

Nothing. Bloodlust had already overcame him.

 

The man he fought lunged at him, Roland ducked and readied his sword. He slashed whatever was in front of him. He heard a muffled scream as watched blood fly in front of him. The body, which he couldn't see, lost balance and began rolling on the ground. He felt something tightening around his face suffocating him, his vision getting blurry. He panicked and took both of his hands to his face trying to rip off whatever was on his face. His sword clanged to the ground before dematerializing. Blood from his hand flew in droplets as he ripped it off and left dissipated fog, leaving bloody residue on his face. 

 

His senses finally came back to him. He turned around ignoring the cut in his arm as he waddled over Leander who collapsed on the ground, the strings inanimate as it fell on him, one noticeably unattached to his leg. Evan had his own tears streaming down his face trying to heal their friend once more while shakily holding a wand. Roland noticed the giant scrape on Leander’s right leg. He tried to get the words out, “E-Evan I—“

They noticed Leander squirm and curl into a ball, he began whimpering as the two bent down closer to listen.

“The… the strings—“ he managed to whimper.

Soon, the magenta strings sprang upwards, but the one previously unattached had its end darting around like a curious sprite. Roland jolted back pulling Evan with him when it tied itself back onto Leander’s leg.

 

Leander shot back up in a hunched over position before reworking his poise, his leg still bleeding immensely over his torn stockings. He lifted his left arm as his blood followed. The blood circled his arm while it turned black, the scrape on his leg stopped bleeding but the bloody sight of it was still there. “Being resourceful here eh Doloran?” Roland joked at the sky, trying to keep his spirits up.

 

The two regrouped on one side of the area, keeping account of the flames around them. They healed themselves in seconds as they split up to dodge another one of Leander’s attacks. The two’s plan devised of focusing on the strings that controlled Leander. Roland tried to cut it cleanly with his sword but it only phased through, Evan did the same only to receive the same result. The fight continued on while the both of them noticed the familiar tricks Leander threw at them once he received the black liquid that circled his arm; the shadows would extend from it  and whip whatever was in reach, rocks that would protrude from the ground, a pulse that would drain magic from those in proximity and such. 

 

Leander shot a spinning spear at Evan while the boy was trying to see if his tail was still in tact. Evan yelped as he saw the incoming dart. He took out a sword and hid behind one out of two rock pillars. He kept his guard up after seeing the spear shoot out from a clean hole it made. While hiding, multiple other thin rock pillars appeared around him, making a small stone cage. He noticed that Roland was in one too the time the man slipped. 

 

The first spear was gone but Leander had already fired a new one darting to Evan’s face. Evan noticed and kept his sword up to block. The drilling noises pierced his eardrums but he had to resist. Fortunately, he didn’t get hurt but the result had the blade in the air, unattached from the handle. He didn’t have the time to panic, so he jumped as high as he could onto a blunt ended pillar and hopped out of the tiny stone prison. He lamented at his slightly blunt looking shank that, in reality, didn’t seem like much other than a handle.

  
  


Leander headed for Roland as the poor man, escaped from the cage, was on a pile of rubble trying to keep his arm from bleeding any longer. Roland began feeling numb as Leander sprinted to him with a stake in his hands. Evan continued to run to Roland, seeing if he could lend any help and even dodging from Leander’s attack. The boy hesitated but he pointed the blunt shank him, looking like a threat. Evan tried his best to concentrate as tension became tighter until—

 

Light flashed in front of them until it became stable. Evan took the arm off his face to see a blade of light, it was small but practical enough for what he thought of. He ran towards Leander who was sprinting at them. Roland, who was busy drinking a tumbler of tea, was about to yell until he began choking slightly after realizing he was drinking. Evan built up confidence to strike, so he gripped tighter and swung the short blade. It worked. The strings that connected to Leander’s arm was cut. The man dropped the stake, shifted his balance and tumbled on the ground, away from the two. Roland guessed it was made out of untouchable matter, or magic, as the strings phased through Leander while he rolled away. Evan had stopped to catch his breath as Roland tried to stand up.

 

Leander’s fake smile had began to falter until that one string tied itself back onto him. He stood still for a while long enough for the other two to notice the leftover string dissipated and the strings above him were begging to become lighter in color. Evan took another glance at his tail and to his blade before running up to Leander again. Roland had taken initiative and began to distract Leander, parrying him for as long as possible after knowing their latest lead. The boy cut off the same string and gave it a nice long pull for his ears to perk up.

 

The two’s mouth began to gape open slightly at the sight of it. The string that followed became light, pure in color. Evan felt the string in his hand squirmed, so he cut off the magenta part of it until it stopped. The pure string that hanged above them finally moved and shot through Leander’s head. His arm inanimate, but the other was still controlled. Roland eyed his way to the other arm to signal Evan. The boy nodded his head and slashed carefully in the midst of clashing weapons. He took the darting string and hopped upwards and began pulling down as much as he could then trimming off the magenta colored ones. The black liquid splashed on the ground as it did. Leander had his upper extremities immobile while Evan was fortunate enough to trim the ones connected to his legs.

 

The pure strings shot through Leander’s head as he jolted up. He stood up straight, all that’s left was his head. Evan approached slowly being careful with his blade. Roland stood and watched silently until it all ended. Evan lifted his arms until Leander hissed and dropped the dastardly smile. His eyes flickered in color once again and bowed his head, he was tired. Evan’s ears fell with each step he continued making. The boy lifted his arms once again to reach the remaining string until Leander’s head lifted and spoke,

“That was quite the experience, wasn’t it?” an echoed voice accompanied him.

The two others lifted their eyebrows as Evan retreated his arms once again.

“Thank you for your time, and please be careful.” he finished speaking as Leander bowed his head again.

“... ’be careful’?” Roland muttered.

Evan finally cut the last string and it shot through Leander’s head, he fell down to the floor in somewhat of a kneeling position, his arms weak and sprawled across the floor while he hunched over slightly. Evan’s ears twitched as he heard something falling from the sky, something… light. He looked up along with Roland whom had already started dashing to catch it. 

 

An irregular shaped orb fell into his arms, it was the size of an American basketball and bit heavy but it was light enough for a few higgledies to carry. He placed it in his hands to examine it until it started charging up as the light shined brighter. He stood still, alluded by the sight ignoring the fact he might get exploded with it as Evan fumbled away from Leander. The orb shot out a blast of light that hit Leander and pushing Roland away as he held it. It became smaller and began floating upwards. The firewall died down as the spotlight shut off. The orb in the sky was the only thing illuminating the land in its weak glow.

  
  


Roland felt his arm being grabbed and pulled away.

“It’s me, Evan.” a boyish voice assured him.

Roland held Evan’s arm in return as they watched the orb float higher. It flickered in a blinding light as the two had to cover their faces. 

 

The room changed, they were back in the cave. The orb disappeared as the three found themselves on the ground. Evan immediately noticed multiple colored glims float around, one green, pink, and another orange. Roland’s eyes were getting heavy but they both noticed their friends on the ground, safe and sound, but empty. They continued watching the orbs as it shot through their friends chests. Evan saw a glimpse of his kingsbond and found Lofty dozing away next to Tani as she tried to stand up.

 

“T...Tani..” Evan tried speaking. He was too weak after the whole fight with Leander. “We...huff… did it…” he spoke as he crawled his way over to his friend before finally collapsing and passing out.

 

“Huh? Wha— Eva… Evan!” she stuttered as she fell to the ground again. She picked up her friend and squeezed him tight. The boy grumbled in defeat as Tani gave a little broken chuckle before setting down again. She summoned a tall and small pink tumblr as she heard a fellow kingmaker mutter to himself, “Givin’ him a nice ol’ cwtch knowin’ he’s all clobbered and all that eh?”

She grunted, “Oh shut your trap will you? You’re the kingmaker, so help me!” 

Lofty had also replied with another grunt, “I’ll go wake up the others then” and waddled away into the small opening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this bitch is one of the longest chapters I’ve ever written so far in my life and one of the actual descriptive fight scenes I’ve done in a while.  
> so yeah  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Please remember this came out of the imagination of a sleeping 2-celled brain’s dream that spanned for about 8 hours and an overly warped oneshot fluff only to be (supposedly) brought to justice by my own hands writing a novelette  
> hfhfjk  
> I know magenta isn’t really that purple but that’s just my aesthetic
> 
> so I’m 1/3 of the way of the next chapter and I will continue to proofread this and update it from time to time
> 
> So a bit of plot summary:  
> All three of them got teleported into Leander’s dreamland which is a land full of despair which my Doloran (Yoghurt) sucked out of a bunch of people years ago and the rest of the gang. They all start cryin bc of that and Leander is being controlled by Yoghurt. He’s gone cray-cray and keeps the same expression the whole time as Roland and Evan continue to get nerfed until Evan made this blade of light that can cut those marionette strings that Leander has. The strings come from above and shoot into Leander’s head, and I mean the whole string. He gets all his memories back, which is the pure string, and magical energy from the orb. They come back to the cave and all are completely nerfed and Tani is picking up Evan as she cries out her whole tear tanks.
> 
> And ahsksjdw I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do this again.


	16. Chapter 16

“Oi, wake up you. Got us some freshly clobbered teammates on deck. Wake up mun! Don’t you smell it?” Lofty yelled at the two on the ground. He hopped once as dust and rubble flew around his feet. Bracken snored quietly until snorting as she tried to breath through all the dust. She shot up as she rubbed her nose. “Ugh, what is that smell?” she said, disgusted. She stood up shakily trying to keep her balance as they both heard Batu groaning behind them.

 

She went over to Roland and Leander, who were merely meters apart, and set a healing pod in between them. She wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and took out her comm. unit. ‘ **NO SIGNAL** ’ it flashed. “What date is it… today?”

“I wouldn’t know, it really felt like we’ve been knocked out for days.” Tani replied dabbing Evan’s ears with a bit of soreaway.

“You’re exaggerating, right?” Bracken said worriedly as she put the gadget away.

Tani rolled her eyes slightly as she shrugged.

 

The pod and the crystals above them illuminated with a soft glow. Bracken put up a lantern on the ground with next to her as it started floating upwards with little propellers buzzing quietly. It was small and had an open door that looked small enough to fit something inside. Sunshine had hopped all the way up to Bracken’s shoulder as it continued to float into the small contraption. She closed the tiny door gently as Sunshine began shaking excitedly. The lantern shone brightly across the room as the light passed through the diffused panes.

 

Her eyes found itself on Leander’s face, he was lying on his side, glasses shattered, and his face pale as ever. She went over to him, she kneeled and proceeded to turn him over, almost losing all her senses as she did. She felt multiple shivers go across her whole body after noticing the abrasion and the pool of blood next to him. “What the… hell happened here?!” she said with a worried voice that broke as she felt cold.

 

She waddled over to his feet and lifted his bleeding leg over to a nearby rock. She took out a large towel and patted the wound which seemed to stop bleeding after a while. She treated it with some concentrated soreaway and a few medical herbs she had in her toolset from a while back when it was passed to her by Thetis. She whipped out a roll of bandage and some treated medical gauze and immediately started wrapping his leg with the bandage along with the gauze. Bracken looked at her hands which were shaking slightly at all the fright and anxiety. She took a deep breath, in and out, and took out a small gadget with a screen. She placed it over Leander’s chest as light illuminated from its little LED and seemed to scan whatever was in front of it.

 

The light went over it slowly as numbers flew across the screen as she wondered, “Why is the blood… there? Shouldn’t it—“. Numbers flashed the screen quickly until it ended with a ‘ **BREATHING, ALIVE** ’ message that glew neon-green against the black background. She put her hands down and made it sprawl against the floor as she looked up. She felt the cold sweat stream down her face as she tried to breathe. “Alright. Alright, you did this too many times before, you should be used to it.” she muttered to herself in a shaky voice. Bracken glanced at the man for the last time before getting up.

 

She turned around seeing Batu approach her, who seemed to have just came from helping his daughter and a chummy kingmaker.

“Take care of him will ya? I’ll go with Roland”, Bracken asked.

Batu merely replied with a reassuring grunt as they passed.

She sprinted her way to the other man and immediately kneeled down. She leaned her head to the side to let the light pass so she could examine. “OK, what happened to you?” she joked, trying to cheer herself up. She noticed the blood on Roland’s face and muttered, “Doesn’t look serious, not even an actual wound, did he smudge his face or something?”.

 

She brought her hand to his face to check until she was startled as his body flinched. She retreated her hand to her and waddled backwards as she saw his body trying to get up. Roland sat up, placed a hand on his face and proceeded to groan. Bracken kept quiet, her brows knitted together and eyes darting to see if anything was wrong with him.

“Bracken you’re… Evan.. Evan! Leander! Where are-“, Roland panicked.

Bracken threw her hands to his shoulders and tried to calm him down, “Roland, they’re OK, they’re alive. You should calm down.”.

 

She took out another towel and glanced at his arm. “You need to clean up, here.” she passed the towel to him. “Also, could you take your coat off? I need to check that.” she asked. Roland followed as she said and dematerialized the coat into his arms band. He lifted up his sweater sleeve so they could examine the cut. She went over to his left arm and wiped it with a towel of her own. “It’s fine, I’m just treating it.” she assured as she proceeded to treat it.

 

Roland took deep breaths and wiped off the blood on his face. He didn’t feel… right. His mind and what he saw was blurry, as if something’s flying away, trying his best to catch it. No avail. He touched his face again to see if he was crying. He looked back at the towel and shook his head after seeing dark colored fog flying away from it. “What’s wrong?” Bracken asked, startled.

“N-no, it’s nothing” Roland replied as he rubbed his eyes with his other hand.

He saw an image flash in his mind before he opened his eyes. Blood suspended in the air and a sword in hands in view. He kept his hands in front of him and hyperventilated quietly.

 

“You three need your rest, we’ll find out how to get out of here ourselves.” Bracken spoke.

“No, wake Evan up. We can teleport out of here then get treated sooner.” Roland grunted.

Bracken’s eyebrows’ ends fell and looked down after placing a small patch on Roland’s arm.

 

Roland tried getting up, he was shaking but he managed to stand up and walk over to what looked like a blurry yellow figure with two brown tops atop it. He rubbed his eyes again and focused, Evan was laying on the ground with a pillow underneath his head while Tani and Lofty whimpered quietly as they sat next to him. “Excuse me I need to—“

“No! He needs his rest.” Tani hissed.

“It’s for the better, the sooner we get out of here, the better. That’s much better than waiting here until getting help, isn’t that right?” Roland hummed.

Tani grumbled before realizing, “I— alright. Be careful with him.”.

Roland kneeled down and spoke softly, “Evan? Evan, you need to wake up. Everyone needs you now, so please. We’re gonna go home, okay?”

He patted the boy’s head as his eyelids began fluttering open slowly. His ears,  which have fallen as he passed out, began perking upwards as he saw Roland, “Roland..! You’re…. alive,” he managed to whimper.

“We’re going home and we need your help, does that sound okay to you?”

“I… yes of course, we need to leave as soon as possible..”

 

“What about Leander? Where is he?” Evan asked as his ears fell slightly.

“He’s fine, alive even with the abrasion.” Roland said as his voice broke unnoticeably in the middle of saying it.

“Abrasion? When did he-“

An image flashed through his mind as he saw something incredibly blurry, but he managed to point out a body on the ground, strings attached to it as he saw his legs on the floor with his tail wrapped around one, all in a single second. A shrill passed through his head as he took both hands to it. He whimpered and saw Roland try to get a hold of his arm.

“No! No I’m.. I’m fine, let’s get out of here” Evan assured.

 

He stood up shakily but the pain from the small cuts and bruises went numb as he did. He looked at his hands trying to summon a wand. The light of him trying to summon it flickered twice before he managed to properly materialize it. He lifted it in front of his face and blinked.

“Let’s get together everyone.” he announced.

“Evan, don’t look.” Tani croaked, as she held his shoulder.

He nodded as his eyebrows fell.

 

Sounds of rustling clothes echoed quietly across the space. Bracken kept the pod the held up the lantern as Roland assured Batu once again he’ll be the one carrying Leander. Bracken stood behind them all as the warm and cool colored lights clashed when Evan had started to cast the spell. The floor began glowing blue and Evan’s eyes shut tight to concentrate. Their clothes began to float as Evan held his hands out.

“F… Far Far Away!” he announced.

 

The light below them shot upwards engulfing them in it as they felt suspended in air as they teleported. They found themselves in the Evermore castle throne room as he almost collapsed on the ground. Fortunately, Tani caught him and began carrying him as she turned to a hallway leading to the castle infirmary. Roland did the same as the rest followed, Bracken released Sunshine from the lantern as the little higgledy hopped out.

 

She proceeded to take out her comm. unit and yelled into it, “Clinic and infirmary forces here and now, we’ve got a code violet here!”

“On it, Miss Bracken!” Thetis’s and Thaumas’s voices replied.

 

Two sharp turns through the castle hallway and they found themselves in the infirmary. Roland and Tani set Leander and Evan down gently on the medical beds as clinic staff began rushing into the room from another door. Roland wiped the sweat off his forehead as Bracken pushed him into a bed of his own. “You need it.” she spoke after leaving a glance at him.

He merely grunted and proceeded to sit up. Batu, Lofty and Tani waited on the other side of the room as Bracken started heading out. “I’ll go check on the staff, I need to update myself,”

 

“don’t worry, I’ll come back and report to you soon.” She assured. Roland nodded and looked to his side, multiple doctors of different species huddled around the side of the bed, making Roland unable to see either of the two. A mousekind approached him, he noticed it was Ratja as she put away the Dellian vest before she started walking here. “Hello Sir Crane, I’m assigned as nurse today to take care of you. The professionals and others are taking dear care of Your Majesty and Sir Aristides, I have heard they needed specialized mage doctors to handle it because of the ‘dark magic’ they sensed, it seems.” she spoke in a soft voice. Roland raised a brow at the continued statements, ‘dark magic? I—‘

“I would request you raise your arm sir.” she interrupted his train of thought.

He shook his head slightly and rolled up his sweater sleeve again.

“I do fear for Sir Aristides, would you know how he had gotten terrible scrape?” she asked as she waited.

Roland stopped and sputtered, “N-no, I don’t.” he felt the guilt clogging his throat.

“Ah, so it’s been treated but,” she said while examining the patch, “I do fear you may have been infected by dark magic as well”.

She put a finger to her snout and looked away. “I’ll go ask one of the mages just in case.”.

 

She walked away as Roland was left with nothing to focus other than the three sitting on that one corner. He looked as his palms, they covered with callouses and scars from past battles. He squinted and began to think, his vision getting blurrier in the process, but he refused to close his eyes. ‘No migraines yet.’ he joked. He put a hand to his chest as he felt something foggy moving around. ‘Butterflies in my… heart? That’s ridiculous.’

 

He heard clacking of shoes as it echoed in the quiet room mixed with the constant murmuring. It was coming closer so Roland decided to fix his sleeve again. “Hello Sir Crane, I’m only here o examine you so don’t make too much of a ruckus and all of this will be over with.” a soft raspy voice introduced from a hood. “Ah, hello Grisella” Roland replied noticing the mousekind as it removed her hood. She gently took his arm with her right hand and examined it. Her eyes were lit and lifted her other arm a little after and began tracing a path on Roland’s body with her finger. It came from the cut on his left arm, to his shoulder then falling all the way to his heart. Her hand hovered over and traced it gracefully as she poked his chest after finding the path.

 

“Ah” she muttered with a face of success. She let go of his arm and began shuffling her way to a little pouch she had with her. Roland kept quiet as Ratja, sitting on the stool left of the bed, gasped, “What did you find?”. Grisella whipped out an old wand on one hand with a little pendant on her other. “He’s infected,” she specified, “but it is merely minor for someone like him.” she concluded.

“Please explain.” Roland queried.

She had tapped the accessory as she replied, “Well, it’s simple. Dark magic infection only majorly affects magical attributes. You may feel mental or physical exhaustion depending on how you got hurt.”

 

She put away the wand before continuing. “Knowing someone like you Sir Crane, you wouldn’t need magic all the time. I’m only acting cautious because it reached your heart.”

“Oh the heart, so precious..” Ratja mumbled.

Grisella finally reached out her hand as Roland saw the pendant dangling from it. The pendant was small, but it glew softly it its white aura. It was in a small rhombus shape, a diamond, that seemed used, the dulling of the edges and the tiny scratches on its surface. She brought it in front of Roland and wagged it, signaling him to take it. “Just please take it sir, it won’t harm you. I only enchanted it to purify you. Meaning, it will simply absorb all the dark magic from inside you. Keep it close to your heart and bring it back to me when it’s completely dark.”

 

Roland held out his hand as Grisella proceeded to drop it in and shuffled back to the foot of the bed. “I’ll be at the Bubblery if you need anything else. Shall we be blessed by the kingmaker that you, Your Majesty, and Sir Aristides receive a swift recovery, sir.”, she bowed, wore her hood again and walked away as the sound of her shoes clacking against the floor follow her. Roland scratched his head and squeaked out a “thank you” the last minute. The mousekind stopped to nod and continued walking out. “Shall we be blessed indeed.” Ratja mused as she clapped her hands together. “I forgot to ask,” Roland mumbled. “Ratja, why are you here again? I thought you stayed in Ding Dong Dell.” he spoke aloud.

“Ah yes, I have been ordered by my king, King Mausinger, to deliver some presents to King Evan here in Evermore. My king said it would be great to keep it as a surprise to King Evan! I have advised one of the royal advisers here almost a week ago, was it you whom had replied, sir?” Ratja crooned as she put her hands down.

“No, but I do believe it was our Junior Counsel. I do remember a bit of him reminding me about it..” Roland replied softly as he cupped the pendant into his hands. “I’m sure we should wait about giving His Majesty the wonderful presents you have brought. He needs his time in peace.” Roland proposed as they glanced at the other medical beds.

“Ah, of course we are willing to wait. It is much more important that our king recovers.”

 

The mousekind stood up from the stool and fixed her bun outside her headdress. Her ears perked up and her tail stretched. “Do you need anything, sir?” she prodded.

“No, I’m not completely incapable, but thank you for the offer.” Roland replied.

He stood up and fixed his sweater. “I will be needing a shower.” he mused to himself as he walked off. Ratja’s ears twitched and only squeaked a “please don’t forget to rest!” to Roland before he left the room. He was at the doorway and saluted to the mousekind and walked off into his room. “Left, left…. throne room..” he mumbled to himself as he walked through the similar looking, cat esque hallways. The tiny fish patterns that repeated on the rags below him made him chuckle.

 

He found the way to his room and walked straight in after opening the door. He kicked off his boots as he planked on his bed once again. A muffled groan resonated within the room as he grasped the velvet covers. He turned around and faced the panel above his bed. He clenched the pendant in his left hand instinctively to see if it was there. The warm glow spread through his palm as he closed his eyes from exhaustion. Static appeared in view, a shrieking voice in the pitch of a shrill came clearly to him as he saw his hands in front of him, on the ground. He shot up, gasping and hyperventilating. He grasped the pendant harder and brought it up to his face. It glew a soft lilac as he opened his hand slowly.

 

“So it does work..” he breathed. He shook his head and stood up. He finally decided to take a shower. He trotted over to the bathroom after getting a towel from one his drawers. He went in and took off his shirt and gasped at the sight of his chest through the mirror. A few of his veins had gone a slight purple creating a trail to center of his chest from the cut on his arm. He put the pendant up to his heart from what he remembered. He noticed it attracting wisps of purple fog from the desaturated colored patch on his chest. It was unnoticeable from a single glance.

 

He put away the pendant carefully in his pant pocket and readied another medical patch for his arm before throwing away the old one. He finally took a shower and walked out feeling refreshed, but still tired. He put on a set of lounge clothes since he decided not to go out for the rest of the day. He readied another set just in case he actually does. He went over to the pile of dirty, blood-stained laundry on his side bed drawers and took out the pendant he was given. He shuddered after seeing the blood again before dropping it in the laundry hamper. He hummed to himself to lift his spirits and put the pendant on, he proceeded to hide it under his shirt and hoped no one would notice.

 

His instincts had brought him to his working desk as he put on a new patch on his arm. In a single glance he turned away from it walked back to his bed. He put his boots next to the hamper and finally laid in bed. He pulled up the sheets to his chin and turned to the right. He grumbled, refusing to close his eyes, but fatigue had overcome him and it snapped shut. Static appeared in view once again, to accompanied by white noise. An image began revealing in his mind and the noise became higher and louder. He brought a hand up to his chest, groping to find the pendant and clenched it tightly as his eyelids tightened. The image slowly went away as the noise became softer. He rested his eyes and finally relaxed. He sighed and dozed away as the sun shone gently on the bedside.

 

A faint wind sound echoed nearby from outside his room followed by door hinges squeaking softly and gentle footsteps going inside. The door closed gently as another wind sound was heard. Roland was half-asleep and shook off the thought before finally falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *huff* finally got back into writing  
> sorry for not updating in a while. I was preoccupied, but hey!  
> This is something.  
> I guess it’s a breather chapter especially for Roland since my dad kept yelling at me to give him and all the others a damn break.  
> Anyway, a few citizen mentions here and there  
> The story has become more of a narrative(?) ever since the fifteenth chapter, ig  
> comments are greatly appreciated as always and thank you for reading!


	17. Chapter 17

He felt the cold wind go against his skin, the warm light above him and the rough ground he had awoke on. The room was white, no end nor beginning, just a white space, not even a room at all. The debris he was laying on was as white as the space around him, it was almost the same as if it were invisible. The shadows were not present which Roland felt as disturbing. He was in his overcoat and felt bruises on his skin as if he fell to the ground.

 

He stood up straight, dusting off the rubble on his coat. The brightness of the room strained his eyes, so he squinted the whole time he was there. He heard a voice, snickering softly as he saw a silhouette forming from a plume of smoke from afar. A man, he thought, in a thick robe, feet on the ground with messy hair and red eyes that stared at him as it formed completely.

 

The silhouette brought out his hand from the robe around it and snapped. Stream of fog had emitted from his arm and began flying to its face and wrapped around it. A helmet formed in the shape of a serpent as the eyes had moved upwards and reformed into a more pointed shape. Color had taken over the figure as gold, from the top of its helmet, gleamed and shimmered in the bright light.

 

Roland couldn’t speak, he didn’t know what to say, he merely blinked his eyes hard as he stared back at the figure. The silhouette had become a man, bedecked with heavy clothing and armor pads under his cape. The snake helmet obscured his eyes with its snout but revealed the snickering smile he had as he mocked Roland.

 

He began walking forward, his footsteps echoing throughout the huge space. He had been almost two meters away from Roland as he stopped.

“Doloran, what are you doing here? These are my dreams, you can’t ruin the now.” Roland scowled at him.

“Ah, but I was merely going to make them more interesting.” the man had replied.

“What do you mean? You mean you threw me to the ground in some pocket dimension to see me hurt and mock me? This feels too real to even be a dream, you psychopath.” he spoke as he gestured in a fighting stance. His hand twitched trying to materialize his gun but only flickered in failure. Roland growled at the claim and merely stood back up straight to listen.

“Call it what you may, call me what you want, I’m only here to show you something.” Doloran claimed, “I know you don’t remember what happened the past few days, don’t you?” he continued as he sounded narking.

“So, you were behind all this? And if you were, why should I trust you?”

“Because you need it. You need it to know what happened. Your friends.”

“Don’t. Bring them into this.” Roland barked as he stamped on the ground. As much as he wanted to hit him, he had to restrain himself.

“But I can feel it, I can feel it swelling up inside you, that kind of desire that fills your mind. Admit it.” Doloran avered as he lifted his arm again.

“I said,  **no** -“

 

All was silent in the snap of a finger. The two were suspended in air as Roland felt his throat clogged up again. The white background continued to flicker with Doloran as Roland was transferred into a completely new environment. He was in a narrow cave tunnel with Evan in front of him. “Evan!” Roland panted as he went over to hold the boy’s shoulder. Evan had not flinched or moved at all. Roland raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips and began to look at the boy’s face.

 

He froze a the sight of it. He saw nothing but a 2D like scribble obscuring Evan’s face, it was the same, no matter where he looked. His legs were weak as he opened his mouth to yell, only to hear nothing but continued silence. He looked down and stamped on the ground again, only to be suspended in air. His surroundings flickered once again to reveal him on the ground as if he dodged away for safety. He looked up to see a massive bird like shadow shooting out a beam of fire. He crawled and eyed his way to wherever it was trying to hit as his mouth gaped open.

 

He saw a silhouette blocking Evan from the monster’s attack. Shards were suspended in air as if something shattered. The boy was on the ground, fallen on his front. The scribble still present. It looked like as if he were trying to get up, ears pointing to his back and his tail wrapped around his leg. Roland had moved closer to see only Leander’s silhouette being obscured by the flame that hit him.

 

Roland had tried to yell again, only to be responded by silence. He continued to crawl, feeling hopeless and weak. He reached his hand out only to feel a split second of being suspended in air to be brought into a scenario he’d anticipated to see. A body in front of him, burned thoroughly with rubble sprinkled atop it as if he just turned it over. The silence was driving him insane, his limbs barely even having the strength to push him up. His eyes were getting dry, trying his best to cry out for help or just sob in place.

 

He didn’t know where this immense depression came from or when it even started to overcome him, but all he wanted to do was lay down on the ground and sulk by himself. The ground disappeared, he thought he’d start floating in air again but he began to fall to his doom. He grit his teeth and clenched his fist as he was plummeting headfirst into the ground, if there ever was any. He couldn’t open his eyes but he finally managed to yell.

 

“ **DOLORAN!** ” he yelled in a raspy voice. 

 

His throat felt clogged until he felt as if gravity suddenly shifted. Silence came back to haunt him but he found himself somewhere dim, to be lighted by a single lamp and what seemed to be a campfire outside the triangular hole. Everything was still, just like always. Roland had shifted his head to his side in shock. A man, smiling childishly at him. Everything was clear, the shine on his lenses was obscuring his eyes but the rest of his expression was readable. 

 

Roland’s mouth was zipped shut as he was unconsciously trying to decide whether to smile or not. He emotions were in a mess, he couldn’t decide to feel depressed or to jump with joy. He mouthed, “Lea—“

 

His surroundings disappeared as he began falling again, although significantly slower. He managed to direct him falling to his feet, his overcoat incapable to handle the speed only to continue flying upwards as Roland kept his arms in front of it, already surprised to see how his hairband hadn’t been slipping off yet. He was standing up, the sun on his face. He felt the floorboards under him creak silently and felt a pressure on his arm.

 

He turned his head to see the same smiling face, only to be looking down into a stairwell. The freckles could be easily seen in the morning daylight even behind the opaque lenses. Roland felt his emotions stir up again as if a tide turned over in his stomach, still unsure what to feel. He suddenly became unbalanced and toppled over, falling backwards.

 

He fell on something soft, his legs covered with a blanket, his hand on his head, as if he were scratching it, his hair in a mess as he stared into the dark. He felt as if he were wearing something light and looked down to see his hair draped over his sleeping blouse. He widened his eyes in response to shock and gulped. He looked over to his side to see a row of beds.  _ ‘A bedroom.’ _ he thought. 

 

He saw a soft yellow-ish colored lump of hair on the bed next to him and two floppy brown ears relaxed on a pillow with blonde colored bangs draped over a white scribble on the bed after that.  _ ‘I get it, but…. why?” _ Roland thought to himself. He crossed his arms and blinked.

 

He felt a cool, tense breeze past by as he recognized that he was in a palace. He was in his overcoat again, his hair tied up neatly. The reflective material of the walls and the domed ceilings awed him as the people around him had the exact same scribble on their faces. Even with the unsettling scribbles, he could recognize who they were.

 

A few Hydropolitan guards talking to each other, Bracken was seated on the ground next to him looking bored, Batu right next to her as if he just ruffled his mustache as it protruded the scribble, Tani, who looked like walking over to this direction disgusted as shown by her stiffened posture and Evan, fidgeting with his fingers as he stood stiffly next to Roland. Leander was nowhere to be found. Roland turned his head to find the door to the throne room closed shut before feeling a loud “thump” resonate the room.

 

The ground rumbled softly enough for Roland to topple over again onto the ground. He was sitting down and noticed how his surroundings hadn’t disappeared yet, but his vision was getting blurry. He rubbed his eyes and felt warm. He opened his eyes to see a still fire in front of him and felt the carpet and a blanket under each of his hands. 

 

He suspected he was in an Evermorian suite, seeing the complex fish-like designs engraved on the fireplace’s mantel. His hair was in a mess again, yet not as intense. He looked down to see him wearing his usual sweater and pants. He turned his head to see the same smiling face looking into the flames as he was wrapped in a blanket. His expression felt more.. sincere and touching.

 

He blinked once and found himself on the Zippelin. He was sitting on a couch, staring on the bronze material ground. He didn’t bother to look up and another blink brought him into a cave. The same cave, yet.. something didn’t feel right. Evan was in the lead of the line, looking brave as Lofty waddled next to him. Roland felt his hand holding something but before he could turn his head to look, he was brought into another area.

 

A familiar looking cave space. He was standing upright to stare at two red lights as he saw Evan next to him, wielding a sword. A snicker was heard, Roland, unsure to feel grateful to  _ hear _ something or terrified that there  _ was _ something. He stepped forward, feeling stiff, static in his view. He began hearing shrill noise in his head, but he didn’t bother to sulk around in this newfound pain.

 

“Doloran, what are you—“

A silhouette moved as if it were laughing, but it was silent. 

“Doloran! Answer me!” Roland choked.

It moved its hand outside of its robed body, its fingers looking ready to snap.

“I said—“

 

He blinked again to see himself in a dark land, only to be lit by a single light above them, the lilac flames emitted unsettling warmth and his hands to be wielding a sword. He moved into a stance as he something move in front of him. It moved closer into the light.

“Leander..?” Roland muttered. He began shuddering. 

_ ‘What am I doing? Is Doloran trying to-‘ _ he yelled in his head.

 

“Leander” had looked like as if he began to lunge at Roland. “I shouldn’t be doing this!” he said aloud as he tried to move. He couldn’t control himself, his vision getting blurrier by the second as he senses became numb. It lunged for the man as he ducked. Roland shrieked,

“No!-“

 

The sound of thin fabric tearing and a muffled yell resonated through his head.

 

It’s as if time had stopped. Blood was suspended in the air, the gross material stained the blade. Roland didn’t bother to look back, he merely shuddered and lowered the sword. He felt numb all over and fell onto his knees. The blade crashed to the ground.

 

It echoed eerily, but Roland felt empty.

 

“I welcome you for my help. I do wish we meet again soon.” a deep voice followed. A bang on the floor as if a staff hit the ground.

 

Roland woke up staring into the dark, his blanket over him and the pendant pressing against his chest as his heart seemed like it was beating out, thrumming loudly. He sat up shakily as his bangs draped over his face. He took deep, quiet breaths and continued to stare down.

 

He still felt numb, he was only able to move to sit on the edge of his bed. He put his hands in front of him and stared on the ground, which looked like an abyss with his feet dangling above it. The natural silence in his room, the trees swaying from outside, the covers ruffling at each movement, it soothed him. His heartbeat began to slow down, but some part of it still ached.

 

His eyes felt dry, the feeling of crying never got to him, or the tears never came out. He clenched his hands and continued to hunch over in realization and immense guilt. He heard the muffled footsteps at his door as it stopped. He didn’t look and continued sulking.

 

The doorknob turned and the hinges creak.  _ ‘It wasn’t locked?’ _ Roland mumbled to himself, still unable to turn around to look. The sound of light-footed footsteps resonated in the room, a voice calling out,

 

“Roland? Are you… alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oeuf my empathetic body— OOF  
> but yeah  
> yay a new chapter, I did something for once, and a reminders that this event comes directly after *spoilers, tbe*, a bit of the next chapter  
> Here’s me hurting myself and my fave bc everybody does that nowadays right?  
> I really didn’t want to dump a chapter of him saying “oh shit I’m so sorry hdjsjwhdjs” without explaining how he knew
> 
> So basically here, he’s just in a vr space where everything’s on pause
> 
> to note:  
> Yoghurt is one heck of a mad psycho


	18. Chapter 18

The room was as dark as always, Leander was on the ground sitting down as he fixed his coat and tried his best to eye away from his bandaged leg. The spotlight flickered in white light, but Leander showed no hesitation and brought out a wand. He turned his head left to right, squinting without his glasses. Wind blew gently against him and the spotlight swayed as if it were an actual lamp above him. A snicker then a cackle before the voice spoke, “...thank you….haha…”. He scratched his head before realizing his knees getting weak again. He fell to the ground with his arms sprawled in the floor, looking down, breathing deeply. The lights turned off until something glimmered in front of him.

 

He reached out to it and felt a small, tiny irregular shaped crystal in his hands. It glowed white, before the color became pink and the crystal getting warmer. He raised an eyebrow in the dark and instinctively placed a hand on the bridge of his nose before remembering he didn’t have glasses on him. He squinted at it while bringing it almost a meter away from his face. It shined on his face with a ray of light as in glowed immensely. Like a star trying to blind him.

 

He snapped his eyelids shut, placed an arm in front of his face and brought the crystal farther as it glowed brighter. He began to hyperventilate as he felt even weaker. The ground shook as he heard debris coming down. He held his breath, trying to look at his surroundings until

 

~~~

He woke up, jolted sitting up in his room. He felt his right leg feeling numb, but focused on trying to figure out what happened. “I-I..” he sputtered trying to get words out, trying to even think was hard enough. He clenched his blankets as he looked to his window. It was dusk, the sun was nowhere to be seen, but the color of orange washed over purple and blue seemed elegant and calming.

 

He moved away the blankets and stared at himself. He wore a plain, grey colored shirt along with a pair of loose lilac trousers. He noticed the unsure seams at the side of his trousers leading him to think it was made only now just to have something for him to wear. He chuckled to himself, remembering as a child, accidentally walking into Nerea’s wardrobe full of glittery gowns and dresses, “I should really have a bigger wardrobe, shouldn’t I?”.

 

His hair was a mess as he looked at a reflection of himself on the bedside vase. He looked up noticing the numerous colors that popped. He brought a hand up to his face and stopped before bringing it down again, remembering he still didn’t have his glasses fixed. He deduced that it were flowers and smiled again, looking contently at it. While looking, he brought a hand up to his mouth feeling something cold.

 

“Was I drooling again?” he mused. He wiped it off him and looked at his hand. His eyes, turning minute from shock. He wasn’t sure if it was saliva or even blood, but it was unnatural. It was dark and purple, but it to have other colors of the similar spectrum mixed in with it. He looked at his leg and brought it closer to him. He looked at the bandage, seeing blood and the same colored liquid, bleeding slightly through it.

 

He squinted harder, trying to think. His mind was blurry, but also somewhat clear. He imagined the last thing that happened. A monster, not as flat as shadow, in the shape of a…. serpent? The eyes glowed red and came closer. Light revealed its gold scales as it… laughed? He was confused, too confused. He tried remembering fighting _it_ , but all he got from it was feeling that his limbs feeling weak with something being tied around it, a needle piercing through his head and his face feeling strained from… smiling.

 

He shook his head while wrapping his arms around it. His eyes felt watery but he persisted the feeling to cry in pain. His right leg feeling numb from it all, how _did_ he get hurt? He put his arms down, tried thinking again, and closed his eyes. He felt suspended air, his position in a way as if he tried to pounce on something. He looked to his feet, blood flying everywhere and a familiar figure, which shuddered as a “clang” boomed in his head.

 

His eyes flew open feeling shivers pass through his body. Goosebumps and hairs rising from his feet to the tip of his prominent flyaway, like a cat.

 

A cat.

 

“Evan!” he shrieked, leaning forward. He hugged his stomach as he felt it churning inside. He felt too weird, too weak. He can’t think properly nor can he act properly. He looked for a wand, his arms band put away somewhere.

 

He looked around the room, turning his body around with his head. He eyed his way to the right bedside and moved closer to it, his body aching as he did. He opened the drawer and found the arms band. He put it on, the weight feeling amplified than usual, but he was persevere. He materialized a wand and began focusing on a spell, a light spell he learned from the imported books from the kingdom’s library and Evan himself. He thought of purifying himself knowing he was blatantly attacked with dark magic. His head thrummed and ached, but he had to try so he closed his eyes.

 

The light from outside disappeared as the minutes passed, the lamps and lanterns were lit by fire by itself. Leander’s room was dimmer than usual, other then the fact only one lamp was lit and he couldn’t physically light them himself. Fibers of light began spewing slowly out the tip of the wand. It grew longer and longer before it began wrapping around Leander’s body. His head ached harder but he continued to persist.

 

The fibers began turning black, shadows. All the strings of light turned into black hairs. Leander’s eyes opened up and the strings had dissipated into fog and disappeared slowly afterwards. He felt lighter and less sick. He stood up slowly and managed to stand up straight before fumbling forwards. He caught onto the bedside drawers and pushed himself up. His head throbbed and another image came to mind.

 

He saw the wooden floorboards below his feet, and a flight of stairs going down. He something supporting him by his side, his arm was interlocked with another. A warm being, a human. He stood up straight and the image disappeared. He felt the tip of his nose getting warm, so he crouched to look at the vase to check his reflection. His face, scattered with freckles and a trail of pink going across it. He wiped his face hoping it would come off, but it didn’t.

 

He stood back up and rubbed his eyes, he needed a shower and a new pair of glasses. He went straight to the bathroom in the thought of cleaning up. He prepared a new set of clothes as he made it hover to his bed from the wardrobe, his archon’s uniform. He took a towel and walked right in. He took out his wand and tapped his leg as an invisible sheet seemed to wrap around it, to keep it dry. He proceeded to clean himself up and walked out refreshed.

 

His hair, still a mess even wet. He tapped his leg with the wand to remove the barrier spell. He took his uniform, and began putting it on. The stockings, breeches, blouse, the cravat, the coat, shoes and the arms band. The bandage was already thin enough as if it were invisible, but still enough to be one. He went over to his vanity table and dried his hair in front of the mirror. He combed it with a comb he took out from ont of the drawers. He took a powder case and dabbed it gently on his face to conceal his freckles.

 

He moved the stray bangs off his face and examined himself, looking in the mirror. “It’s just another night, like all the others.” he pondered. He heard footsteps from the halls outside as it came closer to his room. “I wonder if he’s awake..” he heard the muffled voice. He kept a stance looking straight into the mirror as more lights began to light up. He then heard hopping sounds before the door opened quietly as the hinges squeaked.

 

A tuft of red hair came through with a silver tray the shined a soft orange as the lights reflected against it. A figure began appearing through the door, a little girl with a sly expression, she whispered, “Oh Leander… I’ve got you—“ she turned to her side to see him standing up straight, looking healthy and less pale than before. She shrieked at the sight of him throwing the tray in the air. Leander turned around and pointed a wand at it as it stayed suspended in the air. The tea and little biscuits floating above the little pirate girl’s face, along with the dinner plate still being covered with the cloche.

 

“Tani, it’s best to knock when entering someone else’s room.” Leander addressed.

“I-I-I—“ Tani had begun to stutter as her mouth gaped open.

“Also, it would be more appropriate that you keep your mouth closed during conversation.” Leander continued as he closed her mouth from afar by swiping his hand upwards.

The dinner set reorganized itself on the tray as Tani instinctively brought her hands out to carry it after it was done. “Sarcastic as always, I guess….” she pondered quietly as she walked forward towards him. Leander smirked before pointing to another desk,

“I’m glad that you exerted the effort to bring me dinner, so I won’t be able to eat dinner with all of you. You can leave it there.”

“Oh, we already ate dinner. Evan and Roland are still asleep and still in bed.. you’re the only awake and… ok.” Tani replied, sulking.

“You… don’t have to be so sad. We’re all here, alive.” he tried to comfort her as he walked over to his working desk. “You can stay if you’d like, sit wherever you’re comfortable.” he offered Tani.

“Really? I’ve got a lot of questions to ask, if you don’t mind.” the girl beamed as she sat down on the vanity table’s chair.

 

Leander lifted the cloche and put it away to reveal an appetizing bowl of curry. He smiled softly at it before Tani began speaking, “You look really different without your glasses.” sounding amused.

“It’d be better if you knew where they were if it was fixed.” he grumbled.

“Oh! I completely forgot. Heh.” she blurted with her laugh sounding broken.

She materialized a small case with a little latch. She opened it quietly and took out Leander’s glasses, looking new with its pearly white frame and clear lenses. She put away the case and trotted over him as she passed it carefully. He put it on and adjusted it while he blinked. The soft color of flames and white light reflected softly on it as he looked back to the bowl, the steam coming up to his face and fogging the lenses. Tani snickered quietly as Leander took out his wand and tapped his glasses. “The fog-proof enchantment didn’t stay in place.” he uttered.

 

The two shared tea as they chatted quietly in the room.

 

“Mind if I ask, what happened before I passed out?” he queried after a while.

“Of course not! Hrmmm.” Tani replied and pondered.

She repositioned herself on the chair and put a finger on her face, trying to think. “I don’t really know… ever since you’ve had that fight with that monster, it’s been days.”

“Days?” he sputtered, shocked at the response.

“Yeah, everyone in the kingdom says we’ve been out for at least three days, even a few of ship workers don’t seem to remember what happened.”

“If we used the ship, where did we go?”

“I have no idea.” Tani groaned sounding defeated.

 

Leander had already been three fourths through his bowl and had begun to bite the tip of the spoon. He tried his best to think. “Where was the island again?” he asked as he began to roll out a map he summoned from his arms band. Tani stood up and began walking towards the map. She pointed to a space south of the Abyss. “It was there, it kinda disappeared after we left it, crikey, even the entrance we came through was blocked. We were thinking that it was falling apart the time we all passed out.” she stated.

“I see.. it must’ve been Hydropolis.” he mused quietly.

“Hydropolis? Can’t be. Bracken said our usual traders and all the citizens there say we never even came there the time we were gone.” Tani blurted at the contradiction.

Leander’s face was kept deadpan for the entire time, Tani had already felt uncomfortable staying any longer. “Well.. I’m really glad you’re fine, mind if you take care of Evan and Roland’s royal duties tomorrow?” she queried.

“Not… not at all.” Leander replied, seeing how he was trying to get his thoughts together.

“I see, have a good evening!” Tani beamed as she left the room with the dinner set in her hands as if she snatched it without anyone looking.

 

The hinges squeaked as the door closed. Leander was alone with his thoughts once again. He rested his back on the chair and breathed deeply. He felt sick again, as if the dark magic was taking over. He went cold all over his body but his chest. It felt warm and normal so he brought a hand up to it. There was something inbetween the sheets of his cravat so he pulled it out and found a small crystal fall to the ground. He fixed his cravat in a second and bent down to grab the crystal. It looked and felt... familiar. The irregularity in its shape intrigued him as well as the fact it glowed in a pale, rosy color.

 

He adjusted his glasses to look at what was happening. It seemed to attract dark magic as it flowed into the crystal. “Ah, a purifying crystal. But..” he pondered and questioned himself as to why it wouldn’t change color. He shook the thought off his head and opened a drawer. He pulled out what seemed to look like a pin, a cravat pin. He whipped out his wand yet again as he put down the crystal and the pin. He held the wand near the two objects as he used another hand to keep it in place. The magic soldered the two together making a nice looking accessory.

 

He stuck the pin on the cravat and walked to the door. The rosy color glew softly as it helped Leander feel less sick as it sucked out the dark magic slowly. His leg still felt numb but he could walk, years of unconsciously using magic to change the weight and balance of things had proved to be worth it.

 

He made his way to the room next to him. He shuffled quietly to the door and saw it unlocked. He opened the door ajar and peeked inside the small space. He saw a vague silhouette against the moonlight, a man hunched over, sitting on the bed. His breathing could be heard his shadow shuddered. “Roland?” Leander had muttered.

 

He opened the door as the squeaking was prolonged. He walked into the room and asked, “Roland, are you… alright?”. His sense of worry had begun to overwhelm him, but the urge to run over to him and embrace him was suppressed. He stood still by the door as he clenched the knob. The silhouette turned his head, his eyes reflecting the moonlight. “Leander? Leander you’re—“ the man choked. He tried to stand up, only to feel his stomach lurching inside. He started coughing and covered his mouth. He took an arm around his belly and sat back down reluctantly as he began to shudder continuously.

 

Leander had snapped, ready to defenestrate his pride in a heartbeat. He shut the door behind him and lit all the other lamps with a snap and began rushing all the way to the other side of the bed. He fumbled a bit as he got to the turn and tripped trying to take another step forward. He was caught meekly by his forearms, his glasses out of place leaving everything a blur.

 

He was on his knees, being raised upwards as he tried to pull his arms back reluctantly. Being as light as he was, the momentum shifted as he tried to pull back. He was instead pulled away and fell atop the other man, his arms were let go as he laid face flat on something, his glasses still in tact. The two groaned as Leander pushed away the bed as he laid on his knees on the floor, only then to fix his glasses.

 

He extended an arm to help Roland get up, groaning as he moved, like a squeaky door hinge. He coughed again as Leander noticed the phlegm being similar to the saliva he coughed it out on his arm, dark and purple marbled together with an inky black. Leander had been looking up, sheepishly at him, his arms in front of him as he sat on the floor. “You look pink.” Roland mused with a deadpan expression.

 

The trail of pink on Leander’s face became more obvious as he huffed, the pin blinking subtly in its pink hue. Keeping his figure, he pushed up his glasses, slowly dragged away his eyes from his face and scoffed, “That is nothing near to the matter at hand.”. He put a hand on his leg to feel the thin bandage as Roland continued looking down, still shuddering. “Ah.” Leander squeaked. He stood up and brushed his coat.

 

“I really do worry about your condition and hope for your swift recovery but, would you know anything about the past few days?” he choked, trying to keep his cool and suppress his overwhelming worry. Roland’s deadpan expression was glued on his face like a mask, but he felt his face, ear to ear, tingling. He began to grin, his ears turning pink and chuckling weakly. Leander spouted and kept a hand on his face, his fingers touching the bridge of his eyeglasses obscuring the bottom hand of his face as he began to eye away again.

 

Roland’s expression changed abruptly as he coughed on his arm again. Leander stared, worriedly as he took out a handkerchief. He passed it to the other man to wipe himself as he continued to walk to a nearby desk. He summoned and placed down a tea set and summoned a tall thermos. He poured the liquids into the teapot quietly as he heard Roland’s continued coughing. He poured tea into each of the cups and brought both to the bed.

 

He brought out an arm as Roland looked up from wiping his face. The teacup began to hover in his hand as Roland was reaching out. Roland smirked and began to squint, his whole expression coming together as “sarcastic”. “You really like to show off, don’t you?” he mocked as he took the cup by the handle.

“I like to find ways to make the rest of my life more interesting.” Leander replied before sipping on his own cup.

Roland took a sip and eyed his way up before tilted his head upwards. “Pretty.” he uttered vaguely as his expression went deadpan again.

Leander stiffened and gripped his cup tighter, the pin glowing brighter. He lowered the cup as he sputtered, “I beg your pardon but, what?”

Roland stared lifelessly into his eyes and remarked clearly, “...then beg.”

 

Leander was unsure whether to smile or not, but one corner of his lips began twitching upwards as he looked down with his eyebrows showing a very confused expression. The light on his pin went out for a second before beaming like a lighthouse. The two men leaned back as they put an arm in front of their faces. Roland felt something shoot through his heart yet, pleasantly. A warm feeling overwhelming him, his face tingling all over as the light still shone.

 

Leander put a hand on the pin, obscuring most of the light. He turned away and placed another hand on his face, from his chin to his nose, pushing up the glasses while at it. His hair scattering and tangling in the process of being abashed. Roland sat back up as his shoulders began to shake. He started to snicker until he was laughing, his eyes closed, his hand on his forehead and his bangs pushed up.

 

“Now to my inquiry, pretty ‘what’?” Leander spoke without turning back, sounding muffled.

Two broken chuckles before Roland had actually replied, “That pin of yours, you know, the one that shone like crazy?”.

“Ah, I see. It is actually a purifying crystal I found in my cravat, stuffed in between the sheets so I decided to make some use of it.” Leander responded back.

“You really like to be fashionable, don’t you?” Roland continued to fluster him.

“I thought we’ve already established that.” Leander spoke, turning his head around slowly as he began to lower his hand from his face.

“Heh, so, has it stopped glowing yet?” Roland asked.

Leander looked down to the pin and slowly opened his hand to reveal the crystal. It still glew unusually bright, but the color became redder. Roland leaned to the side to see. “It’s red.” he remarked.

“We can see that.” Leander scoffed as he began taking the pin off.

“What are you doing?” Roland sputtered.

Leander had the pin in his hand as it hovered, it was encased in a small grey box and stuffed it in his pocket. “I’m keeping it so it wouldn’t blow up in my face again.” he huffed.

“Oh,” Roland remarked sounding blue, “it looked cute, a heart even.”

“A heart…” Leander mused as he turned his head to the side, a hand on his glasses. He felt his nose feeling tepid but he quickly brushed off the sensation.

 

Roland tilted his head downwards and made his eyes look up, pitiful.

“You know, it’d be nice if you sit down.” he touted as he patted the space next to him.

Leander turned around and sighed as he rubbed his eyes and pushed his glasses up with the same hand. He fixed it by the bridge before contemplating on Roland’s expression. He merely puffed in defeat and sat down next to him. Roland immediately leaned on his shoulder and grinned with his eyes closed.

 

Leander began to stammer as a trail of pink began forming atop his face, “W-what are you-“.

“I’ll be frank, it’s the least you can do for someone who’s sick, and with you knowing nothing about magical medication.” Roland narked sarcastically.

“In truth, I do know how but of course-“

“You can’t because you’re sick too. Got it.”

 

Roland continued to ponder as Leander sat still.

“You don’t remember, do you?” Roland asked.

“No, not as much to the point of, well…”

“Let me get this straight, you remember everything. All that but the past few days, isn’t it?”

“In majority, yes. All that and a fragment of my leg being cut.”

“Doloran showed you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, did he have any relation to this amnesia?”

Roland looked down, Leander only being able to see his eyebrows furrowed and feeling vibrations as he grumbled. “I’d imply he had everything to do with this.”

“I think it’s pretty explicit.” Roland groused.

 

The two sat in silence again as time passed, Leander feeling the weight on him getting heavier, but he didn’t mind. He quietly took deep breaths as he pondered, he huffed and squinted, hoping he wouldn’t regret what he’d do. He leaned back on the other man slowly, feeling the hair on his face. He underestimated the volume of his hair as he slowly sank in. He was able to push it down in bundles, but the bangs managed to brush his nose. He eyed away into the dim areas of the room to distract himself, but his heart still thrummed outside his chest.

“I… apologize that I can’t do any assistance at the moment, I—“

“Calm down…” Roland mumbled as he adjusted himself.

 

His bangs were brushed off his face when he moved, making it easier to see his expression. He was relaxed, his eyes closed and his mouth was slightly open. He breathed quietly, as if he was falling asleep. The rhythm his heart resonated managed to calm Leander down. He looked down as he continued to lean back, his eyes getting heavy as well

 

In a matter of minutes, he could hear snoring from his side. He didn’t bother to look and continued looking down, doing minute hand gestures as a blanket was draped over them. The lights began to dim even further, the wall clock indicating nine o’ clock. He continued to rest his eyes until he heard wind from behind them, tinkling sounds as if there was magic involved.

 

He jolted standing up as he held an arm out, Roland stayed in place as Leander messed with gravity. He summoned a wand and gripped it tight, trying to find the intruder in the dark. It glew softly, but not enough to find it. He began to take a step forward as he heard whimpering, to be followed by sobbing. He could hear it whine, a child, he thought. He lowered his wand as it glew brighter.

 

“Leander you’re— you’re alive! I.. I’m so sorry! I really am I— I shouldn’t have brought us there I—“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a few explanations in case you don’t wanna hurt your head over this bc my storytelling is a bit too implicit:  
> Leander’s perspective  
> The first part where Leander’s in his dreamscape happened before Roland was thrown into that dreamscape. Meaning, Roland and Leander both had dreams in the same dreamscape but Doloran, from the last chapter, threw Roland into the room from a somewhat existing ceiling as the whole land was all like “let there be light. too much light but okay.”  
> The imagery I used with him having his coat on and a noticeable bandage is really just metaphorical, he got his memories back and he got hurt in the process.  
> He is fully aware that Roland hurt him but anything that happened the past few days when his memory got borked, he has no idea about.  
> I kinda based how he’s feeling with how I feel when I get a fever, heavy as a rocky, can’t move, holy shit my temperature and migraines. Black saliva and phlegm means “bad” in my logic.  
> He remembers his memories with whatever it gets connected to, like when he still tries to get his balance earlier in the chapter and remembers stuff during chapter 5 (and uuh, when he gets his leg cut lol).  
> “Self medication is bad” but whoo boy, he’s just a madman haha.  
> He also gets a purifying crystal like Roland, but as said, it’s pink and irregular.  
> Light, lanterns, lamps, candles all get lit by themselves bc “magic and technology”  
> The bandage is just really thin and you can’t stop me from saying it’s not and find a more detailed and realistic explanation.  
> What I’m trying to hint here with Tani is that everyone involved also got their memories borked meaning only Roland (kinda) remembers everything (along with a certain someone but I think that’s p obvious).  
> He found the same magic crystal from his dream in his cravat and all that it does is suck the evil magic inside of him while “making his feelings more obvious”. So he locks it up in a box which I actually still have no idea what to do now.  
> Roland’s also sick cuz, yeah why not  
> Pretty crystal make other ppl happy haHA  
> whOO YEAH, HERE IT COMES  
> HAIR VOLUME BC I LEGIT HAD TO STUFF MY FACE IN MY SIS’S HAIR JUST TO SEE HOW THAT’D WORK  
> also yeah, glowy magic stick comes in


	19. Chapter 19

His sentences were broken up as he sniffled and coughed, his ears drooped down to his chin and his nightie’s sleeves drenched in his tears and peculiar lilac snot. The little boy’s face was redder than ever trying to get an apology out amidst his guilt and despair. His mouth, impossible to be kept shut and wand in his trembling hand as he wiped his face numerous times.

 

“I… I!—“ he rattled before he coughed again.

 

As he was still shaking all over, the man stepped forward as the wand’s light blue glow illuminated the small area.

 

“Calm down, Evan, please, you need to relax, then we talk.” Leander tried to calm him.

 

He let go of the wand as it was suspended in the air, he proceeded to summon a box of tissues from his arms band and offered it to the boy. Evan coughed twice before reaching for the box and taking a sheet. Leander had put away the box and held the wand again, still having his other arm reach out behind him. Evan blew his nose quietly and dematerialized the sheet. He breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled.

 

He spoke out as clearly as possible, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything. I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have brought us there in the first place.”

Leander, still confounded as ever, tilted his head subtly to the side and asked, “Evan I… I still don’t remember what even happened the past few days, but I know whatever you did was for a good reason. You are my king, you have a good heart, and I trust you with whatever you do.”

“But I thought— you— you sound normal now… you’re back to your old self.”, Evan stammered, “What do you remember?”

 

For a few seconds, Leander turned his head and lowered his arm slowly, Evan’s ears twitched at the sound of ruffling sheets in the dark.

 

“Let’s… sit down while we’re at it, shall we?” Leander spoke as he turned his head back to Evan. He snapped his fingers as a candle was lit, the lamp on a desk beside him slowly illuminated as well. Evan squinted as his surroundings became clearer.

“This is Roland’s room. Then he!—“

“You planned on teleporting to his room to check on him, didn’t you?”

 

Evan’s ears drooped in embarrassment as if he were scolded. Leander sat down on a chair next to the desk beside him. He waved subtly at the boy as he followed and took another seat.

 

“Now to your question,” Leander started as Evan heard he tinkling of the wand disappearing, “it was only up to the point of trying to guard you from that beam of fire. At that point, I felt scorched as the fire seeped through the force field and blacked out. I woke up here, a bandage on my leg despite the fact there really was no collateral damage there. I seem to be infected by this dark magic which makes me imply we were fighting a tainted monster, or a shadow based monster.”

Evan’s ears twitched again as he heard the response. He sighed and nodded at the man trying to think. “Yes and… no.” the child spoke, “we were fighting a bird, some icky black goopy thing. You tried to save me but I almost got you killed. Roland managed to kill it but, the time you woke up, you forgot everything. You were okay! It’s just, you couldn’t really move around as much, you said it ached. Your whole personality changed, you were more… childish. Not at all like yourself now.”

Leander nodded as he fidgeted with his fingers. “If that it the case, who took care of me? If you do still remember that part.”

“Oh!” Evan lightly exclaimed. “It was Roland, he brought you to every room you needed to be in, he even fed you at some point. Tani kept teasing you two for something but, I didn’t really get it.”

Leander brought up his hand to his face and sighed. Tinges of pink appeared on each of his ears. “I see. Were we able to get into contact with Queen Nerea?” he queried as he slowly put his hand down.

“Oh yes!” Evan’s ears perked before drooping back down in his reply, “But, uhm, it didn’t go so well… We didn’t manage to get any of your recent memories back and…”

“That will be enough from there. Now, how did you remember all this, Your Majesty? Roland only managed to get glimpses, but it seems that you managed to remember quite the majority of it.”

Evan’s mouth gaped open as his eyes widened but he immediately regained composure to answer his question. “It was Doloran, we met up in a dream. He didn’t say anything but he placed me in some separate reality where everything was playing out in front of me. I couldn’t move or talk to my will, but I was able to see everything . It felt so real, even when you…” the boy shuddered and coughed.

Leander raised a brow, “‘I’ what?”

“I… don’t want to talk about it tonight…” Evan looked down, rubbing his eyes.

 

They pondered for a while before Evan’s ears began twitching again. “Is there really something there?” he shuddered.

 

The electric light above them flickered and turned on, the dark sky with a view of tree branches beneath it contrasted with the blue hue of the room. The two squinted as the lights turned, taking time to adjust. Evan stared directly at the bedsheets as it continued to move, offset to its bottom right. His ears and tail twitched again as he held his seat. The sheets moved as if it turned around from inside.

 

A man had sat up on the bed, facing them, and the blanket falling off as he did. His hair was in a mess, no hair tie to keep it up, his eyes teary from sleeping as he rubbed it. He mumbled to himself and looked up to find a boy running straight into his direction. The blonde haired child rushed onto him as he embraced the man, Roland had begun to tip over until he felt the child feel seemingly lighter than before, so he kept his balance and hugged him back.

 

The crying and sniffling had resumed once again before it sounded muffled as Evan stuffed his face against Roland’s chest. Broken up apologies were heard as Roland began to hold Evan’s shoulders. The boy loosened his grip as he was pushed away. He rubbed his face as his sleeves became drenched again, his ears drooping down back down as low as his own chin.

 

“Y-you’re alive! I-I-I-I am s-so sorry…” he spoke through his sniffles.

“It’s alright Evan, you know that. You did it for a good cause, and no one died. It’s an experience, Evan, we become stronger because of that. Nothing’s gone to waste.” Roland comforted him as they stared contently into each other’s eyes. Evan stopped crying and blinked twice before rubbing them for the last time.

 

“I...I understand. Thank you, Roland. I’m overwhelmed you’re alright.” He replied before coughing into his arm.

 

Roland scratched his head and brushed his bangs out of the way, his hair down as it was a tangled mess. Leander looked back at them and stood up, walking his way over to them.

 

He clapped Evan’s shoulder as the boy looked back, ears perking up.

“All of us are glad you’re alive, let it be alright for the most part.” Leander noted, “But I am worried for your medical conditions.” he went on, referring to both of them as he glanced around.

 

Evan’s nose twitched before he coughed, Leander lent him a sheet of tissue paper as the boy blew out his nose again. Leander leaned over a bit as the two looked astonished.

“It’s not… purple anymore.” the boy beamed as he held up the sheet.

He felt a hand on his forehead as his tail wagged.

“It’s just a mere fever now, you’ll be able to recover in two to three days with proper medication.” Leander addressed as he smirked at him, putting his hands down. “The best you can do now is go to your room and have as much rest as possible, you wouldn’t want the medics to get worried would you?” he raised a brow as a snort was heard.

 

Evan nodded and dematerialized the used sheet. “Of course, I’ll get back to bed.”

He trotted over to the door and reached for the doorknob as he turned his head back again. “I apologize for entering your room without request, Roland. I do hope we can resolve more soon enough. Good night!”

“Good night, Evan.” the other two chanted as the door clicked quietly.

 

The room fell silent for seconds until Roland started reaching into his shirt. He pulled out the pendant and raised his brow.

“It isn’t absorbing dark energy anymore, and it’s a little… pink.” he concluded as he held it up to his face.

“Ah, so you’ve been given one as well. The crystal, I mean.” Leander remarked.

 

He held a out signaling that Roland should hand it to him. The crystal was placed in Leander’s palm as it immediately dissipated away.

 

“I’ve had enough of that. I’ll keep it for the time being, if you wouldn’t mind as much.” he spoke pungently.

“‘Wouldn’t. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Roland replied jokingly as he stretched his arms above him, “time for work.”.

 

He put his arms down to push himself as he began to stand up only to feel frozen and numb.

“Hehe… Leander…” he chuckled nervously as he saw Leander letting out a pronounced sigh while he waved a wand.

“What you need is to get back to bed. Just sleep, Roland, you’ve suffered enough.” Leander assured the other as he waved his wand again.

 

Roland shook his arms in relief and laid down. He brought the covers over his shoulders and turned to his side. He looked up and his eyes gleamed noticeably.

“Suffer, ey?” he snickered as he finally saw an suppressed grin forming on the other man’s face.

 

Leander squinted and finally showed his teeth in a gentle smile. He snickered as he turned away keeping his hands behind his back.

“So, are you leaving yet?” Roland finally chortled.

“I was planning to, I’ll teleport now if it bothers you that much.” Leander joked in reply.

“If that’s the case,” Roland spoke gently as he moved his arms from inside the covers, “would you mind in checking my temperature?”

 

Leander raised a brow and walked closer to the edge of the bed and queried, “Is there a problem?”.

 

Roland merely mumbled and looked to the floor. Leander’s eyes narrowed in difficulty to hear. He placed his own hand on the other’s forehead and was placed in addlement.

“It’s the same as Evan. You’ll take a few days to recover if you would follow what I said to the child. Now I’ll be taking my leave—“ Leander began to conclude only to see a hand reach out to him. “Is there something else?—“ he spoke for the last time as he was pulled forward.

 

Silence filled the room.

 

“About time.” said the robed man as his hand from under his chin slid up under his nose. The water from the cauldron stopped glimmering and as he waved another hand over it. It reflected his face once again in the gloomy, unlit room. “Not for me, yet it has been fun.” he remarked looking down into the water.

 

“Just to figure out what could happen. How amusing”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .
> 
> I have nothing to say for myself
> 
>  
> 
> okay, let’s get down to business  
> *:party:* I finished it gdi I’m such a huge nerd  
> For one, I’m still incredibly sorry that I messed up with my nonexistent schedule but also left this in the dust for a few months  
> I know this is all anti-climactic and the fact the last few bits sounds like a new cheesy horror novel, it was supposed to end halfway through chapter 15, but nooo that’s mee   
> a few things to clear up, Evan remembered everything bc Yoghurt (Doloran) was so nice, y’know. He’s also a crybabu bc uhhh, y’know, someone close almost ｄｉｅｄ. Anything popping in and out of nowhere is magic and the last part is all up to interpretation bc I’m a huge nerd and amateur and I’m making it worse by implication. will edit this but I still need to find time also hfhsh 
> 
> that’s all folks, probably  
> also, thank you all who checked this out and even bothered to read what these sweaty distracted fingers produced
> 
> until next time (hoo boy)


End file.
